How-to Make the Perfect Hot Dog!

This may be cringe inducing to some of you, but I love hot dogs.  When I was younger, I'd only have ketchup on my hot dogs, and my dad would encourage us to eat them by writing my brother's and my name on the hot dogs in ketchup.  Very cute.  Nowadays, I'll put almost anything on my hot dogs.  I've been dying to go to one of those hot dog shacks with all of the crazy toppings because I think I would just go WILD.  Absolutely wild.  In fact, I'm going to Wildwood this weekend for the annual Beach Ultimate Tournament and will be making a stop at this restaurant that I saw on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  I'm already having trouble deciding what I'm going to get!

Alright, so this is what you need to do.  First, boil your hot dog in water, just to get it warm.

Then drain the pan, throw in some butter, and fry the dog until it's a deep red color.  This gets the outside really crispy and the inside stays juicy.  So good.  I recommend the Kirkland brand hot dogs, even if you have to buy 50 of them at a time from Costco.  

I love mine with sauerkraut and a pickle.  Yumm.  Also here's another little tip - put your toppings on the bottom.  I know, a little backwards, but it'll keep your toppings in place.  And be sure to have a fork handy for those pieces that do get away.

What are some of your favorite hot dog toppings?

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Posted by Ali B at 8:47 PM

Angry Birds Cupcakes

As you know, I love themed parties.  And it turns out I have a lot of friends whose birthdays are in July.  So, we gathered a bunch of our friends together and threw and Angry Birds themed birthday party!  Why Angry Birds?  Because I love that game.  And I was looking to make decorated cupcakes - I haven't whipped out my decorating tools in a very long time.

These cupcakes were so incredibly easy.  I picked which birds (and pigs!) I wanted to make and dyed my icing accordingly.  I iced my cupcakes and then began applying the details.  My favorite part was the white chocolate discs I bought to use as giant eyes, they really made the cupcakes.  I then went over and around the eyes using a Wilton #3 and #2 tips to apply the details to the eyes, beaks, and feathers.  One piece of advice I can give is that less is really more when it comes to details.  I wanted to keep adding things to my birds and pigs but when you add more details, sometimes the design becomes cluttered as the details run together.  



I think my favorite ones were the pigs.  They're so goofy, I really love the way they came out.  And the best part about these cupcakes was it took me about 20 minutes to decorate them!  If you look closely, I only used two different colored icing for my piping: black for the outlines and a gold color for some of the details and the beaks.  I would highly recommend trying your hand at these cupcakes if you're even considering having an Angry Birds party, you need very little detail to get such a fantastic result!

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Posted by Ali B at 4:46 PM

Garlic Bread

This is a recipe that was handed down to me by my Italian roommate.  The first time she made it for us in college was the moment when I fell in love with garlic.  Never again would I use garlic powder or garlic salt.  I love chunks of garlic in my sauces and spreads, yet I'm not quite on my friend's level - she used to roast heads of garlic and eat the cloves!  I don't think I could handle that much garlic, and I'm not sure if people would be able to handle talking to me after eating that much garlic.

For this bread, there's a key way to prepare the butter spread.  Put the garlic in your food processor to mince the garlic finely, then add in the butter to infuse the garlic flavor into your spread.  Plus, creaming the butter makes it much easier to slather all over your bread!

There are two ways you can bake your garlic bread: the low and slow way, and the "Can we have garlic bread with dinner even though we're serving dinner now?" way.

The former will be outlined below, since that is the best way to release all of the flavors of the garlic and cook it so it's nice and tender.  The other way to do it is to stick it under the broiler for about 2 minutes, but this way won't give you the best results, just the quickest.  Make sure that if you do it this way, you leave the door open a crack so the oven doesn't get too hot under the broiler setting.

This lavish loaf of garlic bread would be perfect alongside a dish of chicken parmesan.  Be sure to make it with your next Italian dinner!

Garlic Bread

Yield: 1 loaf

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients

- 3 – 5 cloves garlic

- 1 stick butter, room temperature 

- 1 loaf thick, Italian bread

- Parmesan cheese and Italian herb seasoning if desired

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F

Place the garlic cloves and butter in your food processor and pulse until the garlic is minced and the butter is creamy. 

Cut the loaf in half and spread the garlic butter on both sides of the loaf.  Close the bread up again and wrap the bread in tinfoil.  Place the bread in the oven for about 10 minutes so the garlic becomes tender.  Remove from oven, unwrap from tinfoil, and open up the garlic bread so it lies flat.  Sprinkle cheese and herb seasoning on inside of bread and allow to toast for about 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and serve immediately. 

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Posted by Ali B at 9:03 PM

Sugar Cookie Sandwiches

Since I had sent all of my sugar cookies to my Desserts for the Deserving recipient, I knew I wanted to make the recipe again since many of my friends and family missed out on the deliciousness that was this cookie.  At first, I had planned on making a tray for my 4th of July party, but then I decided to kick things up a notch.  I hadn't worked with icing in a while, so I wanted to give these cookies a little something extra special by turning them into cookie sandwiches.  There's nothing more wonderful than buttercream frosting sandwiched between two chewy cookies.  Here's the technique I used to create these 4th of July treats.


I baked the cookies as I normally do, and added some red and blue sprinkles to fit the theme.  I highly recommend using an ice cream scoop to make sure the cookies are the same size.  This way, your sandwiches will look nice and neat.

My favorite part of these sandwich cookies is the design I used in the icing.  I used red and blue lines to create the red, white, and blue swirl.  To do this, paint a line of gel food coloring on opposite ends of your piping bag.  It helps to keep the bag propped in a cup as a stand.  Now, when I spoon frosting into my bag, despite trying to be as neat as possible I always get the frosting EVERYWHERE.  All over the outside of the bag, flowing out of the top of the bag, just a huge mess.  I did not want to mess up my carefully painted lines, so I placed the painted bag upright in a cup, and then used a second (non-disposable) bag to pipe the frosting into the painted bag.  The extra step may seem unnecessary but it keeps your food gel from smearing all over the bag so you have beautiful lines painted throughout your icing swirl.


To make the swirl (otherwise known as a rose), start in the center of your cookie, squeeze your bag, and continue outwards in a swirl.  It's such a pretty technique and honestly, it's pretty impossible to mess up.  

This is a recipe that needs to be in your dessert rotation.  The cookies on their own are fabulous - they're chewy and absolutely melt in your mouth.  Sandwich some buttercream frosting between the two cookies and you have a fun and delicious dessert!  Even though these cookie sandwiches were 4th of July themed, I wanted to share the recipe because the colors and flavors of the frosting can be adapted to fit any party theme.  This is certainly a dessert I will be making again and again.  I just cannot get enough of these cookies!


Sugar Cookie Sandwiches
Yield: about 12 sandwich cookies
Prep time: 1 hour
Bake time: 10 min 


Ingredients
For the sugar cookies

-     2 ½ c flour
-     ¼ c cornstarch
-     ¾ tsp baking soda
-     ½ tsp salt
-     1 c (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
-     1 ¼ c sugar
-     2 tsp vanilla extract
-     1 egg, room temperature
-     ½ c nonpareil or jimmie sprinkles

For the buttercream frosting

- 1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 c vegetable shortening
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 c confectioner's sugar
- 3/4 tbsp meringue powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp milk
- 1/4 tbsp water (may use more or less depending on consistency)

Directions
To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

 In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar.  Add in the vanilla extract and egg and beat until combined.  Add in the flour mixture about 1 cup at a time, and combine completely after each addition.  Fold in the sprinkles and stir once or twice to incorporate, no more than that or else the color will bleed into the dough.

 Scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, setting the cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake for about 10 minutes, checking often and remove once the outside edges are just starting to turn a golden brown.  Remove immediately from oven at this point and allow to cool on the pan for 5 minutes.  Allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.

To make the icing, combine butter and vegetable shortening in a large mixing bowl until creamy.  Add vanilla extract and salt.  Add the confectioner's sugar one cup at a time and incorporate completely after each addition.   The icing will appear dry after adding all of the sugar.  Add the meringue powder.

Add milk and beat until light and fluffy, about 8 to 10 minutes.  Scoop into piping bag affixed with desired tip and add water as necessary to make the icing easy to pipe.

To assemble the cookie sandwiches, pair up the cookies by size. Pipe or spoon icing onto bottom of one cookie and sandwich together with the second, same size cookie.

Cookies adapted from: Tasty Kitchen

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Posted by Ali B at 10:01 PM

How-to Make Decorative Cookie Bags

After posting about my funfetti cookies and my Desserts for the Deserving experience, I received a few inquires about how I was going to ship these cookies.  I shared how I shipped a batch of decorated sugar cookies here, but because the funfetti sugar cookies are hardier than decorated sugar cookies, I came up with an easier way to ship the cookies without using so much packaging.  All you'll need are packing peanuts, a large box, packing tape, scissors, ribbons, and cellophane bags.

Don't have cellophane bags?  That's exactly what happened to me the other day....

I was gathering my materials to ship my funfetti sugar cookies to my Desserts for the Deserving nominee when I realized I was missing the bags!  I had the box, packing peanuts, tape, scissors, ribbons - everything I needed to pack and ship these cookies except for the cellophane bags!  My mom suggested just using regular sandwich bags, but I wanted to dress the cookies up a bit since they were being sent as a gift.  Plus, there was no way I was going to the store for one thing.  So, I improvised.

I grabbed some of the extra long sandwich bags

Cut off the tops

Placed the cookies inside

And tied them up with some pretty ribbon!  Voila!

I then put a single layer of packing peanuts on the bottom of the box, spaced out my bags on top, and put extra packing peanuts in between and on top of the bags.  If you're shipping regular cookies, like sugar, oatmeal, or chocolate chip cookies, this is a simple and pretty way to package them.  If you're shipping decorated sugar cookies, however, I would use the link above to make sure your designs don't get ruined!

They may not be as pretty as regular cellophane bags, but they still get the job done.  It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to keep a roll of cellophane at home either, since you can make bags and gift wraps of all sizes!  Hope this little trick helps!  What tips and tricks do you have for shipping?

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Posted by Ali B at 7:55 PM

Funfetti Sugar Cookies for Desserts for the Deserving

A few weeks ago, I was able to have the opportunity to be part of a fantastic project.  Amanda over at I Am Baker, along with some other fabulous ladies, asked for volunteers to help with the second Desserts for the Deserving.  This project asked people to nominate someone in their lives who could benefit from a random act of kindness.  Once nominated, Amanda searched for volunteers who would be paired up with a nominee.  I immediately jumped at the opportunity to be part of such a lovely cause, and was assigned to a woman from Virginia.  This woman was nominated by her granddaughter, and I immediately fell in love with her story (not to mention, she has the same name as my grandmother).  Without going into too much detail, the granddaughter mentioned that she wants to do something to, "brighten her day," and I immediately thought of the perfect cookies.  Funfetti sugar cookies - what could brighten someone's day more than a soft, sugar cookie filled with rainbow sprinkles?  Since I don't know this woman's tastes, I also felt that a cookie with simple, basic flavors would be more appropriate.  Plus cookies are incredibly easy to ship!

One thing that I love about this recipe is it uses cake flour without having to send you out to buy cake flour!  Cake flour is what gives cookies their "chewiness," and all you need to do is replace 2 tablespoons of flour with 2 tablespoons of corn starch for every cup of flour you use!  It's incredibly easy and already included in the recipe below.

While the cookies are baking, you'll want to start checking the cookies at 8 or 10 minutes to make sure they're not browning on the edges.  I baked cookies that were about 2 inches in diameter and they were finished by the 10 minute mark.  I probably could have even taken them out a little earlier.

These cookies are just divine.  They're crispy on the edges and moist and chewy in the center (make sure you make the cookies big enough so that you get this difference in texture - 4 inches across should do).  One of my favorite things about sugar cookies is being able to bite into it and taste the crunchy granulated sugar crystals.  So amazing.  I absolutely love this cookie and will be using this as my base for my drop sugar cookies from now on.  

I made these cookies on a cool, rainy day (I try to take advantage of these days during the summer so I don't heat up the house even further with my baking) and they certainly brightened up the room.  I do hope they brighten up my Desserts for the Deserving recipient's day as well :)

Funfetti Sugar Cookies

Yield: about 24 cookies

Prep Time: 15 min

Bake Time: 10 – 12 min

Ingredients

-     2 ½ c flour

-     ¼ c cornstarch

-     ¾ tsp baking soda

-     ½ tsp salt

-     1 c (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

-     1 ¼ c sugar

-     2 tsp vanilla extract

-     1 egg, room temperature

-     ½ c nonpareil or rainbow jimmie sprinkles

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar.  Add in the vanilla extract and egg and beat until combined.  Add in the flour mixture about 1 cup at a time, and combine completely after each addition.  Fold in the sprinkles and stir once or twice to incorporate, no more than that or else the color will bleed into the dough.

Scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, setting the cookies about 1 inch apart.  Bake for about 12 minutes, checking often and remove once the outside edges are just starting to turn a golden brown.  Remove immediately from oven at this point and allow to cool on the pan for 5 minutes.  Allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container. 

Adapted from: Tasty Kitchen

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Posted by Ali B at 2:15 PM

4th of July Recipes!

4th of July falls on a Wednesday this year, so many of us are waiting to hold our parties until the weekend.  I, however, will be holding my 4th of July party on the actual 4th, so I wanted to put some recipes together for those of us whose parties are creeping up quickly!  I believe these recipes and dishes could also double as "summer backyard BBQ recipes."  I'm sure you can find many creative ways to incorporate some red, white, and blue into these dishes!


Drinks
Mojitos - make strawberry or watermelon ones to bring some red to your table!

Sauces and Spreads
Homemade BBQ Sauce - great for grilled chicken

Appetizers and Sides
Black Bean and Corn Salsa
Cucumber Salad
Fried Onion Rings
Pimento Cheese
Salsa
Zucchini Sticks

Dinner
Grilled Pizza

Dessert
American Funfetti Cake - if you're feeling ambitious ;)
Blueberry Streusel Cake
Mini Blueberry Tarts
Strawberry Banana Cream Pie - throw some blueberries on top for a red, white, and blue cream pie!
4th of July Sugar Cookies

And stay tuned for another Red, White, and Blue dessert within the next few days!

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Posted by Ali B at 11:22 AM