KPK COOKS!

My new favorite brownie!!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup black cherry non fat greek yogurt 
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs 
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 12 oz bag chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dried cherries
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Whisk yogurt, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Melt chocolate chips with butter. Let cool. Whisk into yogurt mixture, then stir in flour and salt. Pour into 8x8 greased pan and bake at 350 for 35 - 40 minutes.

Fall makes me want to make bread! I got this from All Recipes and have been looking for a good raisin bread recipe for a while. This one makes three loaves so you feel as if the time to make this is worthwhile. 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
• 2 packages of active dry yeast 
• 3 eggs 
• 1/2 sugar
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1/2 cup margarine, softened 
• 1 cup raisins
• 8 cups flour 
• 2 tblsp milk 
• 3/4 sugar 
• 2 tblsp ground cinnamon

Dinner with my sister’s family and my dear friend Joanie last night. I mention her a lot in my posts because she is a big “foodie” who always adventurous in her cooking. She brought this dessert which is gluten free.  My sister needs to eat gluten free and needless to say, this dessert made her very happy. Absolutely delicous!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 c unsweetened applesauce
• 6 pitted prunes
• 2 Tbls.hot water
• 1 1/3 c (8 oz.)semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped (I used bitter)
• 1/2 safflower or olive oil(I used canola)
• 3 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 1 Tbls instant coffee granules
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbls. potato starch (I used corn starch)
• Confectioners sugar for dusting

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325. lined the bottom of a 9” springform pan with parchment. Combine applesauce, prunes and water in a blender and puree set aside. Melt chocolate in a large microwavable bowl. whisk in oil,applesauce mixture  then egg and egg whites. Add cocoa,sugar,coffee,salt and starch. Whisk until smooth and completely combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35-40 mins. Do not over bake. Moist crumbs on toothpick in center. Cool in pan for 1 hour/ refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Carefully remove sides of pan and turn over onto dish remove parchment and place a plate on bottom to flip cake right side up/ dust with confectioners sugar and serve with raspberries or mint ( I definitely would stick with raspberries as it has been taste tested) ENJOY!

Who does not like Nutella? My husband and I first discovered during our skiing trips to Quebec. Then you could not find it in the states, so we would get our fill during these trips. This came from Cooking Light magazine but I don’t know how light they are.

Ingredients:

13 oz. jar Nutella
1 extra large egg
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/4 cups self rising flour

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Beat together 3/4 cup Nutella, butter and egg. Slowly add flour until wet dough forms. Turn on to lightly floured board and with floured hands divide dought into 18 pieces (I got 16) and roll into balls. Place several inches away on parchment. Bake 12 minutes or until firm. Cool 10 minutes. Using a serrated knife, split each cookie in half horizontally. Spread each bottom with 1 teaspoon Nutella. Replace tops, pressing lightly.

I usually just resort to the chile mix in the grocery store, but this time I decided to make it from scratch.  For super bowl, our friend Paul took a corn muffin and crumbled it into a bowl and put this chile over it. It was “YUMMY.”

Ingredients:

• 6 slices of bacon
• 2 lbs. ground beef 
• 1 large onion, chopped 
• 1 large green bell pepper, chopped 
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 chile powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin 
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 12 oz bottle amber beer 
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 
• 1 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
• 1 1/2 c. low sodium beef broth 
• 2 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce (more if you like spicey)
• Shredded cheddar cheese and or sour cream for topping

Instructions:

Cook bacon in a large saucepan until over medium heat until crisp. Drain on paper towel and let cool, crumble and set aside. Pour off and save all but 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings. Add ground beef and cook breaking into smaller pieces. Transfer cooked beef out of pan and add 1 tablespoon of bacon drippings back to pan. Add onion, bell pepper and cook until soft. Add garlic and 1 teaspoon salt and cook another 2 minutes. Add chile powder, cumin, paprika, oregano and tomato paste and cook, stirring until tomato paste is brick red, about 6 minutes. Add a splash of water if it begins to stick. Add beer and simmer until almost completely reduced, about 3 minutes. Stir in beef and any juices from the plate; add cocoa powder, tomatoes, beef broth and beans and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook stirring occasionally, until chile thickens slightly, about 1 hour and half.  Stir in hot sauce and season with salt. Ladle into bowls and top with crumbled bacon, cheese and or sour cream. 

Pumkin pie is one of our favorite pies!  This puts a nice twist on it.

Ingredients:

• I 29 oz can of pumkin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 3 eggs 
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 c. chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans) 
• 1 c. sugar 
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1 c. butter, melted

Directions:

Line a 9 x13 inch pan with waxed paper. Mix pumpkin, evaporated milk, sugar, eggs, salt, and cinnamon together in a bowl and then pour into pan. Sprinkle cake mix over pumpkin mixture.  Spread nuts over mixture. Pour melted butter evenly over nuts. Bake 350 degrees for 1 hour. Cool one hour and invert pan onto platter. Peel off waxed paper. Serve with whipped cream. 

I discovered meyer lemons about a year ago, but I did not think there was a big difference between plain old lemons and meyer’s lemons. I was absolutely wrong. They are different (combination of lemon and tangerine, how can you beat it) make the best lemon meringue pie ever! Unfortunately for me, living in the Northeast, they are hard to find.  When I do find them I stock up. I am now researching more recipes to use meyer lemons in! 

Graham cracker crust:

• 1 1/4 c. graham crackers, crushed 
• 1/4 c. sugar 
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted 

Combine all ingredients and press crumb mixture on bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Bake in 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.  Cool. 

Filling:

• 1/1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. and 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 c. and 1 tablespoon meyer lemon juice 
• 1/2 cold water
• 5 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1 1/2 c. boiling water 
• 1 teaspoon grated meyer lemon peel

Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, juice and cold water in saucepan. Mix well. Add egg yolks and butter. Slowly add boiling water and cook over medium heat until boiling. Cook for 2 minutes. Add peel. Pour into graham cracker shell and cool for a bit. 

Meringue:

• 5 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
• 1/2 c. sugar 

Beat egg whites until soft peeks form. Add cream of tarter and gradually add sugar. Beat until stiff peeks. Top pie with meringue and bake at 350 for 5 minutes or until brown on top. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.   

When I think of sangria I think of white wine and summer.  Well, now we can have sangria in the winter! 

Spiced Simple Syrup:

• 2 c. water 
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 - 3 cinnamon sticks 
• sliced orange peel 
• 1 inch peeled fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns 

Combine water, orange peel, ginger, cloves and peppercorns and bring to a boil. Stir in sugar and boil until reduced a bit and syrupy (15 minutes). Let cool, strain and store.

Sangria:

• 1 750 ml red wine (I use Pinot Noir)
• 1/2 c. spiced simple syrup
• Juice of one orange
• 1/4 c. rum 
• 1/4 c. grand marnier
• sliced oranges, apples and pears

Combine in a pitcher and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Enjoy!

As everyone knows, I am always on the look out for new xmas cookie recipe and I am pretty picky. This is good enough to make my list!

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients: 

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 sticks butter (8 oz) at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 molasses
• 36 miniature peanut butter cups chilled (Reese’s)
• Confectioners sugar for rolling

Directions: 

In medium bowl mix together flour, soda. Whisk in ginger, cinnamon, pepper and salt. Using mixer, cream butter, sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and mix in molasses. Scrape down bowl and add flour mixture in two batches, mixing on low until combined. Turn dough out on to large piece of wax paper or plasitic wrap and form a ball.  Chill for one hour. Preheat oven to 350. Working with 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, mold dough around each peanut butter cup to enclose completely. Bake until tops are slightly crackeled, 12 – 14 minutes. Transfer cookies on to rack and cool 5 minutes.  Roll cookies in confectioners sugar then return to rack to cool completely.