Recipe sharing

[Merseine]

This thread is not my fault. Really. I blame it all on Crymsin Lilly and Healix.  Well, mostly Healix.

You see, Crymsin Lilly started a thread called "Sad Anniversary" (http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,9137.msg130588.html#msg130588 and during the discussion, Healix passed around cookies and milk to everyone. 

See for yourself.

*passes around warm cookies and cold milk*

https://i.imgur.com/Dmn2LUSl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gNSG5Hdl.jpg

*Drool* is the only appropriate response (unless you're lactose intolerant or diabetic...we understand and Healix stepped up and took care of those folks too). 

When that picture hit the screen, Crymsin Lilly said:

(snip)

And omg those cookies!  Or are they some kind of mutant cupcake?  All I know is that I need the recipe.  *drools*

(snip)

So I searched this forum for any recipe sharing threads.  And you know what, with this post, I've tripled the occurrence of the word "recipe" (and now quadrupled) on this site.  That word hadn't even been here before Crymsin Lilly saw Healix's cookies. 

That last bit just sounds wrong....


...ah well, going on.


SO - here's a new thread. We'll see how well it goes.  Here's the rules.

If you so wish, share your recipes.
If you see one you like, feel free to copy it to your own electronic storage (I swear by the program "Living Cookbook" but that's another story for another time.)
If you take one, please share one.  (but if you don't have one, just say thanks and post pics of your creation if you can)


Easy, huh?

Oh, and I'm sure discussion of the posted recipes and such will happen and that's all to the good.  Tweaks, additions, suggestions...go for it.

Sound good?

[srmalloy]

If you so wish, share your recipes.

Here's one that I created a few years back.

Whole-Grain Bread
(makes 2 loaves)

3 cups warm water
2 packagesrapid-rise yeast
2 tbsp dark molasses
2 tsp salt
3/4 cup wheat gluten
3/4 cup flaxseed meal
1 cup barley flour
1 cup oat flour
3 cups whole-wheat flour (approximate)

1. Put the water, yeast, salt, and molasses in a stand-mixer bowl and stir together, then add the vital wheat gluten and one cup of the whole-wheat flour. Mix until combined. Allow to sit about ten minutes to be certain that the yeast is still active; you will see bubbles form in the liquid.

2. Add the flaxseed meal, barley flour, and oat flour. Mix until all the flour is incorporated.

3. Add one cup of the whole-wheat flour and mix until it is incorporated, then add the rest of the whole-wheat flour in progressively smaller amounts as it is incorporated until the dough cleans the side of the bowl as it is mixed. Knead in the mixer for five minutes, or turn out onto a lightly-floured board and knead by hand for ten minutes, using whole-wheat flour for dusting (as little as possible); the dough will remain slightly sticky. At the conclusion of kneading, the dough should be elastic, but because of the flaxseed meal and wheat bran it will have a slightly rough texture.

4. Lightly coat the inside of a large bowl with oil and set the dough in the bowl, turning to coat the upper surface as well, then cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled.

5. Place a rack in the middle of the oven, with a shallow metal pan on a rack beneath the first one. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Lightly oil the inside of two large loaf pans.

6. Turn the dough out onto a board and divide into two equal pieces. Shape each piece to fit in a loaf pan, then spray the tops lightly with oil, cover with a paper towel, and allow to rise for approximately 20-30 minutes, or until the dough has risen to about an inch above the sides of the loaf pans.

7. Put the loaf pans in the oven, then pour 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water into the pan on the lower rack and immediately close the oven. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Test the loaves by turning them out of the pan and tapping the bottom; if they do not sound hollow, put the loaves back in the pan and bake for another five minutes, then check again. Temperature variations in ovens may increase or decrease actual baking time.

8. Remove the loaves from the pans and set on an elevated rack to cool.


The recipe above makes about three and a half pounds of dough before baking, so for a bread machine you would probably want to cut all the quantities in half the first time until you see how big a loaf you get compared to the capacity of your machine.

[eabrace]

I'll have to dig out the recipe I use for Gen. Tso's chicken later today.  It's based on a recipe I found on AllRecipes, but I modified it a bit to better suit my own tastes.

[healix]

The picture I posted is a cookie-looking brownie....

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

INGREDIENTS
1 box of your favorite brownie mix made in one or 2 muffin tins (depending on amount yield))
14 snack size Reese's peanut butter cups (or regular peanut butter)
small packge each of semi-sweet chocolate chips and butterscotch morsels

DIRECTION
Bake brownies according to package directions in a muffin pan or two, keeping the level to 1/2 full (Spray the pans with cooking spray. This will make it easier to pop them out when they are done cooking.)
About 3-5 minutes before the brownies are done baking, pull them out of the oven and place around 9 snack sized peanut butter cups, face-down, over the tops of the brownies. (If using peanut butter instead, place a small dollop in the center of each brownie...it will melt, no need to spread.) Gently press the peanut butter cups into the brownies.
Return the pan to the oven for the remaining 3-5 minutes.
When you take the brownies out of the pan, the chocolate from the peanut butter cups will have melted. (Use a spatula to spread the melted chocolate over the brownies, almost like frosting. The peanut butter portion of the peanut butter cups won't melt, so don't expect to be able to spread that part.)
Allow the brownies to cool, then sprinkle some semi-sweet/butterscotch chips on top.. I let the brownies cool at room-temperature for about 30 minutes, then placed them in the refrigerator about about an hour. Serve away.


So easy...SOOOOOOO good

[eabrace]

All right, I'm a day later than I thought I'd be, but here we go.

In case anyone else wants to play around with it, I started with two recipes (1)(2) and sort of mixed and matched the parts I liked best from each.  Then I modified a few of the ingredients and added some other vegetable options based on previous cooking experiments.

Now, I generally tend not to fry much and I usually reduce or just leave most oil out of the foods I make, so to begin with, I don't actually bread or deep fry the chicken I use in the recipe.  That being said, if you want to do so, the original recipes have that covered.  The chicken tastes just fine all by itself in the sauce, though.

Ingredients in bold are deviations from the original recipes.

2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 teaspoons hot chili sesame oil
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup dry sherry
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
6 dried whole red chilies, or to taste - alternately, red pepper flakes or cayenne
2 tablespoons ginger, or to taste (fresh usually goes to waste in my fridge, so I usually just use dried powder)
cornstarch (see below)
fresh ground pepper (just a dusting, not much)
chopped green onions*
baby carrots (sliced or whole)*
broccoli florets*
snow peas*

Directions

Heat oils in a large saucepan or wok to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Carefully drop the pieces of chicken into the hot oil one by one, cooking until the chicken turns golden brown, about 3 minutes.

As the chicken cooks, combine the sugar, vinegar, sherry, soy sauce, garlic, dried chilies, ginger, and (optional) ground pepper with the chicken.  Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce thickens to the consistency of light pancake syrup (about 3 minutes).  Cooking the sauce in the same pan as the chicken will allow the chicken to soak up some of the sauce.

As the chicken nears completion, add vegetables to the pan/wok.  Continue cooking until onions begin to turn translucent.  (You sort of have to use your best judgement on when to add the vegetables.  If you're cooking in a wok, this is easier since you can move anything that finishes early to the outside and keep the part that still needs to continue cooking in the center.) 

Assuming the sauce is pretty much a thin liquid at this point, mix some cornstarch and water in bowl, cup, whatever - just not directly in the pan.  Once the cornstarch mixture is smooth, slowly stir it into the sauce in the pan.  Add a little at a time and stir in completely.  If the sauce is still liquid, add a bit more.  The sauce should be ready when it begins to cling to the chicken and vegetables.

Remove from heat.

I usually serve this either with steamed or fried rice (with more veggies), but it's pretty good all by itself, too.


* I tend to just use whatever vegetables I have around at the time, but if I plan ahead, I like to include all of the vegetables I have listed above.  You may substitute or add any other veggies as suits your individual taste.

[Merseine]

Well, I started this thread - I'd better post a recipe, right?    ;)

I just made a batch of this up today, for my Mom's birthday.  This stuff is HEAVEN on a plate!

Di's Fudge.
This is the world's best fudge...and I'm not even kidding.

Ingredients:
2 sticks (1 cup, 1/2 lb) of salted butter (use the BEST butter you can find - really, it makes a difference.  European-style butter, if you can find it. Oh, and yes, use salted butter because chocolate likes salt so very very much!)
4 cups sugar
10 oz evaporated milk (NOT condensed)
1 tsp salt (I use Kosher salt, and don't actually measure this very closely)

7-8 oz marshmallow fluff (not "cream" - look for "fluff")
1 generous tsp vanilla (I probably use 1 1/2 tsp of Penzey's double strength vanilla)
15 oz Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips (60% dark)

Procedure: before you start cooking
1. Make sure you've got a nice, heavy pan with a good thick bottom so the fudge doesn't burn.
2. Butter the set-up pans ahead of time. Once this gets going, you won't have much time to futz around. This will make 3 pounds of fudge which fills my glass loaf pan, so you might want to have two pans set up just in case.
3. Also, have everything measured out ahead of time - it really makes things go much, much easier.

Procedure: cooking
1. Put the butter, sugar, evaporated milk and salt into your nice heavy pan and cook it over medium heat, stirring constantly, until you just reach "soft ball" temp of 236ºF.  (I actually pull it a degree or two early - makes softer fudge.  Oh, and I start medium low and turn it up as it goes. My friend Di, who's recipe this is, goes medium high and turns it down as she goes, so the fudge doesn't scorch.  Find what works best for you.)
2. Seriously - stir constantly. This is why you set everything up ahead of time.
3. When soft ball state is reached, take it off the heat - really, don't just turn off the burner - take it off completely.
4. Stir in the fluff. When that's worked in completely, add the vanilla and stir.  Then add the chocolate chips. This is when it will start to set up and become fudge, so stir quick and be ready to pour into your set-up pans.
5. Pour the chocolatey goodness into your set-up pans and let it cool.  You can put it in the fridge, but make SURE to put wax paper securely on top. You don't want other fridge flavors migrating into the fudge.
6. Try and wait until the fudge is all nice and cool before you taste it.  Just try.    ;D



=======
Tips and add-ins:

For peanut butter fudge, omit the chocolate and instead stir in 12 oz of creamy peanut butter. Taste tests indicate that Skippy is much better than Jif and I'm a Jif fan.

If you want chocolate/peanut butter fudge, make 2 batches and swirl together.  Make the peanut butter first and pan that up - it takes longer to set than the chocolate, so you'll have time to swirl the chocolate in.  Use 2 separate pots though - you won't want to take the time to wash and dry the pan in between and you DON'T want to get water in your fudge pan. 

For white chocolate fudge, use white chocolate instead of dark. Though why anyone would want to do this, I'll never know - white chocolate IS NOT chocolate.  However, others have been known to add essential oils for flavoring and some food coloring. There's someone who's made an orange dream-sickle fudge this way.  No experience with that here - the dark chocolate is just too darn good.

Feel free to change out the flavoring - omit the vanilla and add 1-1.5 tsp of mint oil for chocolate/mint fudge.

You can also add a cup of nuts if you like. Walnuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios, even peanuts if you like. Preferably lightly roasted - mix in at the end with the chocolate chips.  I'm personally not a fan, but many are.

[Ironwolf]

Instead of a MacDonalds frappe of chemicals make this at home and be far healthier!

1/2 glass of ice
Fill glass 3/4 with milk over the ice (skimmed or lowfat if you like or even Silkmilk soy)
A small shot of flavouring (I like Hersheys Special Dark)
1/2 teaspoon of instant coffee
1/2 scoop of protein powder

Mix in a blender on high and you have a Frappe far better and healthier than any fast food joint. I have this every day before I workout.

[goodtime]

My favorite recipe.

[Merseine]

My favorite recipe.

I see what you did there!   8)

[johnrobey]

My favorite recipe.

Actually, Goodtime has what I had in mind when I first saw the title of this thread.  Silly me!  It didn't occur to me to share cooking recipes.  (Believe me, you're better off without mine.)    But given this is about edibles, I'll not post a favorite MIDS build here....   ;)

[healix]

Yah, JR....your Snakehip and chickenlip stew might not appeal to everyone

[Merseine]

Actually, Goodtime has what I had in mind when I first saw the title of this thread.  Silly me!  It didn't occur to me to share cooking recipes.  (Believe me, you're better off without mine.)    But given this is about edibles, I'll not post a favorite MIDS build here....   ;)

How about we do "Wentworth Recipes" as the next topic over on the Alphabet Game thread?

[johnrobey]

Hi Merseine!  That sounds like an Entropically Chaotically good time to me!  (obscure minor reference to the Entropic Chaos IO set.)   ;)

And as to recipes for edible food, well, "Wok a la Jacques" is pretty much identical to Wok du Jour; i.e. whatever I have on hand that sounds good stir-fried. 

[johnrobey]

Yah, JR....your Snakehip and chickenlip stew might not appeal to everyone

My Snakehip and Chickenlip stew appeals to those who enjoy extreme dieting; that is, so extreme as to be FASTING!  I can prepare other dishes that more filling than Snakehip and Chickenlip stew - since that dish is practically nothing but color, spices, and sound vibration - however when needed to keep others fasting, I can prepare other concoctions have even less appeal to the taste buds (assuming that's even possible)!!!!

Hi Healix!  Good to see you here!  :)

[ukaserex]

I love a good recipe.
And when I find one, I like tweaking them, to make them better. For example - I'm sure you've all heard of Nutella, even if you haven't tried it. (and if you haven't, don't! Never try it, unless you're seriously underweight, or have the metabolism of a teenager on cocaine and methamphetamines.)

Make your chocolate chip cookies the way you normally would - only before you add the chocolate chips, take a large spoonful of it and mix it in with it. It provides an incredibly chocolatey flavor, in addition to the chocolate chips.

You can also smear some on some parchment paper and freeze it. Then break pieces off and shove them in the middle of some dough and bake as normal. It's like getting a nutella filled cookie. Very yummy. Freezing isn't necessary - it just makes it easier to work with.

[Brightfires]

My best cookie experiment so far...

Mixed Chip Cookies (aka 'The Cookies of Doom')

*********************************************************
2 1/4 cups      All-Purpose Flour (Or you can use 2 cups of Flour and 1/4 cup of Almond meal, if you happen to have it around-)
1 tsp         Baking Soda
1 tsp         Salt
2 sticks    Butter (softened)
3/4 cup    White Sugar
3/4 cup   Brown Sugar (light or dark)
2 tsp    Vanilla
1 tsp    Almond Extract
2    Eggs (large, room temp)
1 3/4 cups   Semi-Sweet Chocolate (chips or chunks... I like chunks)
1 1/2 cup                  Walnuts or Almonds (chopped)
1 3/4 cups   Toffee bits

**********************************************************

1)    Preheat your oven to 375.

2)    Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. (Cut in the almond meal after sifting, if you're using it-)

3)   Cream the brown sugar, white sugar, butter, vanilla, and almond extract together.
   (Use a mixer, this stuff gets thick once the flour and "stuff" goes in!)

4)    Add the eggs one at a time.

5)    Add the flour mixture a little at a time until it's all incorporated.

6)   Add the chocolate, the nuts, and the toffee a cup at a time, mixing well after each.

7)    Let the dough rest at room temp for about ten minutes.

8 )    Drop by the tablespoon onto parchment-paper lined cookie sheets.
   (Definitely use the parchment! These get REALLY sticky as the toffee melts-)
   
9)   Bake for around 9 minutes.
   Let them cool on the pan for a minute or two, then move them to a baking rack.
   - One batch of dough will make about 50 cookies.

***********************************************************

I've completely silenced a room full of (very) chatty journalists with these cookies. If the Slate crew was too busy munching to say anything, imagine what they'll do to any average pack of office-mates. XD

[srmalloy]

My best cookie experiment so far...

Mixed Chip Cookies (aka 'The Cookies of Doom')

If you're interested in why choices in the recipe for the fat and the ratio between white and brown sugar work to control the characteristics of the resulting cookie, I point you at the 'Good Eats' episode "Three Chips for Sister Marsha" (episode transcript and recipe links).

[healix]

https://i.imgur.com/T18tzqCl.jpg

[Twisted Toon]

https://i.imgur.com/T18tzqCl.jpg

I might need to make these cookies for an acquaintance of mine who is afraid of spiders...

[Merseine]

If you're interested in why choices in the recipe for the fat and the ratio between white and brown sugar work to control the characteristics of the resulting cookie, I point you at the 'Good Eats' episode "Three Chips for Sister Marsha" (episode transcript and recipe links).

Or, you can pick up Shirley Corriher's book Bakewise.  The important cookie page is here (it's not really a recipe, but it's good stuff to know):

https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/998056_10151730825857357_1568431708_n.jpg

Shirley was the older, short-grey-hair scientist who sometimes was a guest on Good Eats.
https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.culinate.com%2Fhunk%2F68214

The reason it was Alton's show and not Shirley's was because Alton made good TV.  He presented a ton of her concepts in ways that people could understand and totally credited her for her contributions. 

Bakewise and Cookwise are THE BEST cookbooks around.  Seriously.  Reading about the difference that protein content makes in flour is practically a religious experience.