Ghiradelli White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins
From Ghirardelli

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
8 ounces white baking chips
6 ounces (½ pint) fresh raspberries
2-3 tablespoons demarara sugar

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Prepare 2 muffin pans with 18 liners.

In a medium-sized bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the egg and vanilla extract, and stir until combined.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Gradually add the flour to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour.  The mixture will be slightly lumpy.  Do not overmix, or it will result in a tough muffin.

Stir in the white baking chips.  Carefully fold in the raspberries without breaking the berries.  Fill the prepared muffin cups about ¾ full.  Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the demarara sugar.

Bake the muffins for 16 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.  Cool the muffins in the pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins to the rack to cool completely.

Makes 18 muffins

Carrabbas Chicken Bryan

I'm having a dinner party and this is what I'm making.  Because it's my favorite.  These amounts are for eight people.  I got it from food.com so the amounts can easily changed.

Recipe:

8 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 to taste kosher salt, to taste
4 to taste fresh ground pepper, to taste
4 to taste olive oil
16 ounces goat cheese
24 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
8 -16 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
16 teaspoons onions, minced
16 teaspoons garlic, minced
32 tablespoons butter, divided
24 tablespoons white wine
2 cups fresh lemon juice (about 1 large lemon's worth)
Directions:


Brush chicken on both sides with olive oil, season to taste with Kosher salt and cracked pepper.

Grill chicken until done (internal temp of 165F) - prepare lemon butter sauce while chicken is grilling.

Sautee onion and garlic in 2 Tbsp butter until soft and fragrant.

Add white wine and lemon juice, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 10 minutes to reduce.

Add remaining 6 Tbsp butter, a little at a time, until it melts and mixture is emulsified.

Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes and basil, heat until hot (but do not overheat or sauce may break).

Top nearly-done chicken breasts with 2 oz each of the goat cheese until cheese warms and softens.

To serve, spoon lemon butter sauce over chicken breasts.

Enjoy! I serve this dish with pasta tossed in butter or olive oil (the delicious lemon butter sauce will perfect it), garlic mashed potatoes and a green salad -- yummmm!

Buttermilk Pie

I really want to try this.  Some complaints for this recipe are that it is too sweet.  This is from Food.com

Recipe:

1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 deep dish pie shell (either your own recipe or store bought)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light.

Add the eggs and beat; then beat in vanilla.

Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the batter alternatively with the buttermilk; beat until smooth.

Pour into a deep dish pie shell and bake at 400F for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350F and bake for 50-60 additional minutes.

Pie should turn a nice golden brown and a knife inserted should come out clean.

I think it is absolutely best when it is just still warm. (Not too hot, or it will be like napalm.).

Pecan Pie Bars

I have somewhat eclectic tastes in food.  Let's face it, I just really love it.  But I tend to like Southern Recipes in particular.  I have a couple I would like to try. This is from piarecipes.com.

Pecan Pie Bars

Crust 

Combine the following in a bowl until well mixed and then spread on the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of icing sugar
1 cup of butter

Filling

Cream together:

1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs

Add:

1 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 stick of butter (melted)
a pinch of salt
2 cups of pecans

When well mixed, pour over the baked crust and put back in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Heather's Artisan Bread

My friend Heather Clark has made this bread several times and I decided I needed to recipe.  It is amazing!

Artisan free-form loaves - Becky Vincent

Makes four 1 pound loaves (recipe is easily doubled or halved)

3 Cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees)

1 ½ Tbsp granulated yeast

1 Tbsp kosher salt

6 ½ cups un-sifted, unbleached all-purpose flour

Cornmeal or parchment for pizza peel.

Preparing the dough:

In a 5 quart bowl or re-sealable, lidded food container, add yeast & salt to lukewarm water. Don’t worry about getting it all to dissolve.

Add in all the flour at once. Mix with a wooden spoon (you can use very wet hands to help if needed) or a heavy duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.

Don’t knead the dough; just mix until it is uniformly moist without dry patches.

Cover with a lid that fits well, but not airtight. Allow to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse, about 2 hours (you can let it go for up to 5 hours) The dough is ready to use at this point, but will be easier to shape if it is refrigerated at least 3 hours first.

On Baking Day:

Prepare a flat surface (pan, cutting board, etc.) by sprinkling liberally with cornmeal (or lining with parchment)

Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with flour.

Pull up and cut off a pound (grapefruit-sized) piece of dough, using a serrated knife.

Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won’t stick to your hands.

Gently stretch the surface of the dough around the bottom on all fours sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. (Most of the dusting flour will fall off) the bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will flatten and adhere during resting and baking.

Handle the dough as little as possible.

Place the shaped ball on the cornmeal-covered surface.

Allow the loaf to rest there for about 40 minutes, uncovered.

Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise (more will occur during baking)

20 minutes before baking preheat the oven to 450 degrees, with the baking stone or pan placed on the middle rack.

Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won’t interfere with the rising bread.

Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour.

Slash a ¼ inch deep cross, scallop or tic-tac-toe pattern into the top, using a serrated bread knife.

With a quick forward jerking motion of the wrist, slide the loaf off the cornmealed surface and onto the preheated baking stone.

Quickly but carefully pour about 1 C of hot water from the tap into the broiler tray and close the oven door to trap the steam.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch.

Allow to cool completely, preferably on wire rack.

Store the remaining dough in refrigerator in your lidded ( not air-tight) container.

Cut off and shape more loaves as you need them anytime over the next 14 days.

The flavor and texture will improve after even one day’s storage.

*Tester’s note: If you don‘t have a baking stone, you can bake the loaf on a cookie sheet, but we found the crust was not as pleasantly crisp this way   

Homemade Chicken n Dumplings

I love going to Cracker Barrel for their Chicken n Dumplings.  I have always wanted to make something similar at home, but every recipe wasn't quite right.  The dumplings, a lot of times ended up tasting like biscuits, not at all what I want.

I just found this blog called, Comfy in the Kitchen, and she has just the kind of food I love to eat every day.  Easy, simple and delicious.

Chicken n Dumplins made EASY!

1 Pre-Roasted Chicken (near your grocer’s deli area)

6 Cups Low Sodium canned chickenbroth

1 Cup water

Dumplins

2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 ¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp milk

Directions:

Pour your broth and water in a large heavy saucepan/pot and boil on high heat. Peel back and discard chicken skin and flake off medium sized chunks of your chicken and set aside.

To make the dumplins: Combine the flour, baking powder, 1 ¼ tsp of salt and milk in medium bowl. Stir well until smooth, then let the dough rest for 5 mins. Roll the dough out onto a floured surface to ½ inch thickness. Cut ½ inch squares with a knife or pizza cutter.

Drop each square into the simmering broth. The dumplins will swell then shrink as they partially dissolve to thicken the broth into gravy. Simmer 20-30 mins until thick. Stir often. Add chicken and cook another 5 mins. Season with pepper (no salt needed because the broth is salty enough).