Day 299 - Apple Crisp

I made the Apple Pomegranate Crisp last month, but I absolutely have to share this one.
My mother-in-law made it while we were visiting over Christmas and we all just loved it.
So here it is, an apple crisp recipe unlike any I've ever had.
Again, I halved the recipe because I'm still using the @%$^&# toaster oven, but the original called for a 9 X 13-inch baking dish.
Now THAT'S a lot of apple crisp!

Apple Crisp - serves 4

2 1/2 apples
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups light brown sugar
6 tablespoons rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/4 sticks butter, melted
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare an 8 X 8-inch baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl combine salt, flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, and mix well.

Add butter and mix until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Reserve 1 cup and set aside for topping.

Core, peel and dice the apples.  Place into a large bowl.  Sprinkle with lemon juice.

In a small saucepan, combine cornstarch, sugar, and salt.  Mix well.
Whisk in water and heat to to boiling over medium-high heat.  Continue cooking until mixture forms a thick paste.  Remove from heat.

Add vanilla to heated mixture and stir.
Pour over apples and toss to coat.

Add flour/butter mixture to coated apples and thoroughly combine.

Pour into prepared baking dish and cover with reserved 1 cup of topping.

Bake for 50-60 minutes until top is golden brown.

I rate everything I bake on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and this Apple Crisp earned 4 rolling pins.
This is definitely unlike any other apple crisp I've had.
Why do I feel like I've said that before?  ;-)

I think it's due to the cornstarch mixture because everything else is practically the same.  I did make a few minor adjustments to the recipe my mother-in-law gave me, but it was the addition of the cinnamon and lemon juice which I've used in other recipes.  So it couldn't have been that.
I don't know, this was just really, really good apple crisp.
Especially with the addition of some vanilla bean ice cream on top.
Oh, yummy, yum, YUM!!
Apple Crisp is one of my absolute favorite desserts and this one was no exception.
Go out and buy those apples.
Make this.
Seriously.
And enjoy it!

I wish everyone a happy, healthy, and a very blessed 2012.  May it be everything you desire and more.
I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Day 298 - Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

We've had an extremely busy Christmas week here at 365 which was why I took 4 (gasp!!! - I know, I know...) days off in between the Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms and Eggnog Creme Brulee.
We actually flew back to RI/Mass. for Christmas and just returned home late last night.
It was one of the most AMAZING visits we've had with the family.
Since we've moved to Arizona over 9 years ago, we have not had Christmas with my husband's entire immediate family.  There were a few Christmases that his mom and brother had come to visit us, but this year we were able to go to his sister's house and reunite with her family, his brother's, his mother and her boyfriend.
We were also extremely blessed to visit with some extremely close friends.
Of course, we hated to leave.
The kids so wanted to stay longer to enjoy more time with their relatives, especially their cousins, but one can't stay on vacation forever.
It sure would be nice though, wouldn't it?
I did actually bake while I was there and made the Cinnamon Crunch Cheesecake when we celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday.
It was a hit and everyone agreed that it definitely earned the 4 rolling pin rating it had been given.
I love that thing, SO incredibly delicious!

I've had red velvet cake, but it wasn't something that I absolutely fell in love with.
In fact, I really wasn't too nuts about it at all.
I think the thought of that red food coloring really turned me off.  It just isn't healthy.
But then again, how many dishes am I making that are truly healthy?  ;-)

I made this recipe as it was on Jessica's blog, How Sweet It Is.  There were a few comments about how dry the batter had been when some people had made them, but I had absolutely no problems and the cookies turned out great.
I also used teaspoonfuls instead of the tablespoonfuls Jessica had recommended because I'm still baking in the toaster oven, and didn't want the cookies to be too big.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies - Um...I forgot to count how many I made before we polished off quite a few and my daughter brought some to her friends, but I'm guessing there were about 30, give or take a few.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon red food coloring
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder; set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.

Add egg and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Add red food coloring.
Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Using teaspoonfuls of dough, place on baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

I rate everything I bake on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best.  These Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.
They had a delicious chocolate flavor and had just the right amount of chewiness.
I will definitely be making these again - my daughters loved them.


I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Day 297 - Eggnog Creme Brulee

Thank you all for reading.  I've been extremely busy since Christmas Eve, hence the lack of posts, but we're back and it will be great to get this all going again.
Oh yeah, there's still an oven that needs to be fixed.  I'll definitely be working on that tomorrow.
It will be wonderful to bake a full batch of cookies at one time instead of 3 or 4 at a time.

I don't have pictures of the "process" because I accidentally left the SD card in the laptop my husband took to work.
I love eggnog this time of year and have been hearing of so many different recipes that it's in.
Of course, I had to make something with it besides just drinking it.
We went NUTS when I made this Creme Brulee, so I really wanted to try it with the eggnog.
This recipe I adapted from Barber's Dairy website and halved it.

Eggnog Creme Brulee - serves 3

3/4 cup eggnog
3/4 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon of sugar
3 eggs - 2 whole eggs and 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon rum
light brown sugar for the top

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine eggnog and milk and heat to just boiling. Turn heat to low.
In an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, mix together the sugar, 2 whole eggs and 1 yolk til frothy and light.
Add the warm eggnog mixture to the frothy egg mixture by large spoonfuls so as not to curdle your eggs.  Thoroughly combine.
Pour mixture through a strainer held over the previously used saucepan. Heat on low.
Continue heating until mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Add vanilla and rum and mix.  Remove from heat.
Evenly divide mixture between three ramekins.
Place in a baking dish large enough to hold them.
Pour enough hot water into baking dish so that it comes 2/3 up the sides of the ramekins.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  The custard will be set, but the middles will still be wiggly.

Remove ramekins from baking dish and allow to cool slightly before placing them into the refrigerator to cool for at least 2 hours.
Sprinkle about 1-2 teaspoons of brown sugar and with a small hand torch, caramelize the brown sugar until it hardens.  You can also use the broiler for this process.

Be careful not to burn, or it will end up looking like this:

The finished product... and only slightly burnt.

I rate everything I bake on a scale from 1-4 with 4 being the best and this Eggnog Creme Brulee earned 2 rolling pins.
It was creamy and yummy like a Creme Brulee, but definitely not as delicious as the one I made.
I thought it was just "ok", not really anything exciting.
Alright, the burnt brown sugar didn't taste that great either.  I think a small amount of granulated sugar would have tasted better.
When you put too much sugar on top of the brulee, I've found that it tends to burn more easily instead of melting and then hardening. So use a minimal amount of brown sugar or go with the white sugar.

Thank you all for reading!
I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Day 296 - Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

A few of us love stuffed mushrooms and the rest of us don't, but I made them anyway.
They are a great appetizer to bring to any gathering you may be going to this holiday season and with New Year's coming up soon, you're sure to be going somewhere.
Or at least I hope you're not us - we stay home and go to bed early.
We've done that almost every year, but there have been some pretty darn good New Year's celebrations that we've been to, too.

I just couldn't resist.
I was arranging them on the cutting board for a picture and I just went with it.

I was inspired to make these from my friend, Cindy, who said she'd found a similar recipe on the internet and loved them.
Thanks, Cindy!  I'm so glad you shared the recipe!!

Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms - makes about 16

8 oz. button mushrooms with stems
1 clove garlic, minced
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon fresh Marjoram, chopped
3 teaspoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley

Preheat oven (or toaster oven - haha) to 450 degrees F.
Clean mushrooms well in a medium bowl.  I find that it's easiest to put them all in a bowl and rub the dirt off them and then rinse them again.
Remove stems from mushrooms and set aside the caps.
Finely chop stems.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped mushroom stems, garlic, cream cheese, marjoram, seasoning, 2 teaspoons of Parmesan cheese, and parsley.

Thoroughly combine with a rubber spatula.

Using a teaspoonful of mixture, stuff each mushroom cap.  Place additional stuffing on top.
Sprinkle with remaining teaspoon of Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Drain on paper towels and place on serving platter.

I rate everything I bake on a scale of 1-4 and these Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms earned 4 rolling pins.

Ok, I think I'm being partial because I really, really have this thing for stuffed mushrooms, but these were SO darn good.

Mr. 365 thought so as well.

The kids, well, they liked the inside, but didn't like the "texture" of the mushroom cap.

Oh well, more for me!!!

The kick from the Old Bay seasoning was incredible and the cream cheese balanced it out nicely.

I'll definitely be making these again!!

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!

Day 295 - Taco Pockets

Good grief.  I bought frozen pizzas to have for dinner tonight.
I took it out of the fridge and went to turn on the oven.
I completely forgot the thing isn't working.
Now I'm bummed because I really wanted to eat this pizza.


I made these babies (haha, get it, babies, diapers).
I found this recipe for Dirty Diapers and thought they were a cute idea.
The recipe I found is more for a slider type appetizer, so I adapted it and made it taco-ey because we live in the southwest.


I was in a hurry to bring these to a Girl's Night Out, so the pictures were rushed, but you can definitely get the idea of what I was doing.

Taco Pockets - aka Dirty Taco Diapers -  makes 32

1 lb. ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

1 package taco seasoning (I used mild)

1/2 cup water

8 slices pepperjack cheese

2 cans (8 oz.) 8 count crescent rolls

3 plum tomatoes

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.

In a skillet over medium high-heat, place ground beef.  Cook until beef is no longer pink and crumble while cooking.

Add onion and cook until soft.

Drain grease.

Add taco seasoning packet and 1/2 cup of water.  Stir to thoroughly combine.

Cover and simmer on low while preparing crescent rolls.

On a piece of parchment, unroll crescents.  You can also do this on a clean surface.  I just found it easier to do on parchment so they wouldn't stick and I would have less clean-up.

Separate the triangles and cut each in half diagonally to make two smaller triangles.

Stack the slices of cheese and cut them diagonally so that there are 4 piles of smaller triangles.

Place one triangle of the cheese onto a crescent triangle.

Place about 1 1/2 -2 teaspoons of ground beef mixture on top of the cheese.

Put a few pieces of chopped tomato on top and sprinkle with some cilantro.
Fold the points of the dough over to the center so that it wraps up like a diaper.

Place them on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking, until golden brown.

I rate everything I bake on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and these Taco Pockets or Dirty Taco Diapers earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.
These are sure to be a hit if anyone loves tacos.
These things are compact, but pack a lot of flavor with the beef, and pepper jack cheese.
The tomato and cilantro were great additions, too.
I think the thing that's only holding it back from being a 4 is that I should have served them with some sour cream or Greek yogurt.
That would probably do it.

Review of the 12 Days of Cookies

I figure everyone still has a little bit of time before the big guy in the red suit arrives to start baking him some cookies.
So, in case anyone missed them, here's a review of the 12 Days of Cookies.
People have sent me e-mails and have told me in person how good certain cookies were, especially those Salted Caramel Thumbprints, so those would be a great addition to the list.

The 12 Days of Cookies


Day 1 - Chocolate Covered Cherry Thumbprints

If Santa loves chocolate covered cherries, he's sure to love these with a glass of milk!  They earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.

Day 2 - Chocolate Peppermint Shortbread

Unfortunately, these only earned 1 rolling pin due to baker's error.  I used unsweetened instead of the recommended bittersweet chocolate.  I suggest you follow Brenda's recipe and not mine.

Day 3 - Mexican Wedding Cakes

These had just the right amount of powdered sugar and a great taste with the ground pecans.  They earned 3 rolling pins.

Day 4 - Greek Honey-Walnut Cookies

These were a bit time consuming, but well worth the effort earning 3 rolling pins.  The honey combined with the chewy walnut surprise inside brought the Greek out in me even thought there isn't a smidge of it.

Day 5 - Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies

These earned 4 rolling pins!  The combination of peanut butter cookie and chocolate covered pretzels with that touch of cinnamon for the nose were a definite hit here at the 365 home.  I think Santa will get a kick out of these!


Hmmmm.....
Just now going to type in Day 6's cookie, I realized that there are TWO of them!
SO instead of 12 Days of Cookies, I actually gave you 13!
Crazy!
Here's the first Day 6 - Chocolate Peppermint Frosted Cookies 

The chocolate with the peppermint frosting...Yum!  These little babies received 3 1/2 rolling pins.

Day 6 1/2 - Ginger Chewies

These were SO doggone delicious that I am going to add them to our annual holiday baking and have to make them again during the year.  Oh. My. Goodness.  They earned 4 rolling pins, of course!

Day 7 - Laura Bush's Cowboy Cookies

This BIG whopper of a cookie earned 3 rolling pins, but would have been better had I added the oatmeal I inadvertently omitted.

Day 8 - Cinnamon Pecan Shortbread 

These were good with the addition of the pecans and the cinnamon and earned 3 rolling pins, but I'll take my mother's plain Scotch Shortbread any day.


Day 9 - Peppermint Candy Cane Meringues

These were so cool because they were light and airy and had a great peppermint taste, but it wasn't too strong.  They earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.

Day 10 - Salted Caramel Thumbprints

OH. MY. FREAKIN. WORD!
You have to make these and you have to make these NOW!!!!
They were SO UNBELIEVABLE DELICIOUS and what?  I only gave them 3 1/2 rolling pins?  Hmmm...
Why on earth did I not give them a 4?  Must have been because I was eating too much caramel by the spoonful out of the saucepan.  Oh heavens...

Day 11 - Gingerbread Biscotti

These were good and earned 3 rolling pins.  I really enjoyed them with my morning cup of "me time".

And last but not least...
Day 12 (but really Day 13) - Checkerboard Cookies

These are always so neat when you see the design.  People are always like, "How'd you do that?"
Unfortunately, you can't reply, "Simple."  because it's a process that isn't a short one.
You are going to need patience for these gems, but in the end, it's worth it and the taste of the chocolate and vanilla together is great.  They earned 3 1/2 rolling pins.

There you have it, just in time for you to do your last minute holiday baking.  You still have a couple of days, that is, if you don't have to finish your shopping.  ;-)

I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!