Spicy Bacon

This is the best bacon recipe I've every found. I always make it on Thanksgiving with pumpkin pancakes, but lately I've been making it for very special breakfasts. It's not THAT spicy, it has just enough spice that your tongue tingles a bit, and your mouth fills with warm heat and sticky sweetness. Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my chin. The secret to this recipe is THICK CUT bacon. Not all bacon is created equal. When you're buying bacon, get the good stuff. Make sure it's equal parts meat and fat, and see if it's the same size at each end of the strip. My personal favorite is the thick sliced Applewood Smoked bacon that is sold at Costco. Excuse med while I wipe the drool off my chin again. Out of all my breakfast parties, this dish has been consistently oohed and ahhed. So, if you need a wow'em breakfast dish, this is your recipe. And, the best part of this recipe, it pairs very well with a mimosa! OR, for the man in my life...he likes it as a garnish in a bloody mary. 

Spicy Bacon 

16 slices bacon, thick cut (see above)
1 cup light brown sugar 
1 tsp. black pepper 
1 tsp. cayenne pepper (use more if you'd like, just don't kill your taste buds...or your guests) 

 1. Preheat oven to 350, and prepare baking sheets. Take a rimmed baking sheet and line it with foil. Place a wire rack on top of foil lined baking sheet. Lay strips of bacon on top of wire rack and bake 10 minutes. Combine sugar and peppers. Flip bacon over, and bake another 10 minutes. 

 2. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of brown sugar pepper mixture along each strip of bacon. Use your fingertips to rub the mixture into the bacon. Place bacon into oven, bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven, flip bacon over, and sprinkle another teaspoon of brown sugar pepper mixture on back of each strip of bacon. Stick the bacon back into the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the bacon is cooked and crispy, and the brown sugar pepper mixture has caramelized all over the bacon strips. 

 Serve and enjoy!

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Sprinkle Cookies

Not going to lie, I love Real Housewives of whatever...it's a guilty pleasure, I'm not proud of it. But, I love it.  There was an issue in the last episode involving "sprinkle cookies".... which is apparently very offensive to bring to someone's Christmas Eve party.  I don't get the drama, but I'm fascinated.  And, at the end of the episode I had a desire to make sprinkle cookies for my friends, who would never ever throw them away.  I liked this recipe because it's cakey and uses a lot of vanilla.  I would even recommend using a vanilla bean to make these cookies extra special.  These cookies have lots of names like, funfetti cookies, confetti cookies, or sprinkle cookies...but I like the name that Jett has given them, "Donut Cookies"

These cookies are basic, and festive.  You are limited by the types of sprinkles that you have in your pantry.  I suggest investing in some colored sprinkles so you can make these beautiful cookies for all occasions.

Sprinkle cookies

aka "Donut Cookies"

3 cups flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, 2 sticks at room temperature

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla, or 1 vanilla bean split seeds removed

2 eggs

1 cup sprinkles

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter, white sugar and vanilla extract or vanilla bean seeds.  Beat until the butter and sugar is light and fluffy.  Gradually add the eggs on at a time, blending well after each addition and making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Gradually add the flour, blending well, making sure the dough has the same consistancy throughout.

Chill the dough for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Use un-rimmed baking sheets that are either non stick or lined with parchment paper.  Remove dough from fridge, and roll into one inch balls.  Roll each cookie dough ball into the sprinkles and place on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes.  Let cool for 3 minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Cheers!

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Lemon Burst Cookies

(Chocolate Crinkle cookies - chocolate) + Lemon = Lemon Burst Cookies!
They taste like a bite of sunshine, and are perfect on a Summer Day, with a cold iced tea.  No fake lemon crap.

Lemon Burst Cookies

3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
yellow food coloring (optional, I did not use)
powdered sugar


In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

In an electric mixer combine butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time making sure the eggs are completely mixed in with the butter.  Add vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest.  Mix again until all wet ingredients are well combined, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.

Scoop the flour mixture into the butter-sugar-egg-lemon mixture, about a cup at a time.  Make sure the flour mixture is well mixed with the butter-sugar-egg-lemon mixture.  The cookie dough should have the same consistency throughout the entire batch.  Cover dough with plastic wrap and place in fridge for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Use un-rimmed baking sheets that are either non-stick or lined with parchment paper.

Put 1/2 cup of sugar into a shallow bowl.  Scoop out 1 tablespoon of cookie dough, and roll into a ball.  Then, roll the ball into the powdered sugar and place onto prepared cookie sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough and powdered sugar.

Bake for 12 minutes.  Let cool for 3 minutes on the baking sheet, and then let cool completely on cookie cooling racks.
enjoy!

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Chocolate Chip Cookies for a Crowd

I once wrote an essay on Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I have no idea where it is now.  Chocolate chip cookies are just full of nostalgia.  They're simple.  They're sweet.  They're lovely.  And, I think that everyone has a chocolate chip story.  These are the cookies that are provided after soccer games.  These are the cookies that we pack up and give the neighbors.  These are midnight snacks, and munchies.  These are desserts in the kids lunch boxes, and they are what I bring to share at the park.

This recipe makes A LOT of cookies, like 6 dozen.  The dough will freeze, so if you're not ready to produce 60 cookies make them into cookie balls, and pop them in the freezer until ready to use.  I like options for variations in cookies.  
NOTE: This recipe can use milk, semi-sweet, or white chocolate chips.  Sometimes I see fancy chocolate chips that are chocolate mint or chocolate raspberry.  I've been known to make these cookies with those types of chocolate chips too.  Live on the edge, jazz up your cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 pound butter (four sticks) at room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 Tablespoons vanilla
6 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
3 cups chocolate chips + 1 cup more for garnish  (I prefer nestle semi-sweet morsels, see note above)
1-2 cups chopped nuts (I'm not a nutty person, but I've heard that walnuts taste good in cookies if you're in to that sort of thing)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Use non-stick baking sheets, or line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and a pinch of salt.

In an electric mixer beat butter and sugars together until very light and creamy.  Add eggs, one at time beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of the bowl as needed.  Beat in vanilla.

Add flour to butter-sugar-egg mixture one scoop at a time making sure the flour is well incorporated.  Add 3 cups of chocolate chips and nuts if using.  Mix until the chips and nuts are evenly distributed throughout the entire dough.

Scoop out cookie dough 1 tablespoon at a time.  Roll into a ball, and place on to prepared cookie sheet. Use remaining cup of chocolate chips to add more chocolate chips to the top of the dough ball, I recommend 3 per cookie.

Bake for 12 minutes.  Let cool for 3 minutes on the rack and then place on a cookie cooling rack until completely cool.

enjoy!

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Bourbon Molasses Chicken Drumsticks

I've a restaurant idea for sometime now, it would be called, "first date, second date".  There would be two menu's "first date" part would be all foods that are easy to eat, light, not very messy, very flavorful but nothing that is too garlicky or oniony.  (watermelon feta salad, tomato soup with focaccia, salmon with pineapple salsa over jasmine rice etc.) The "second date" menu would be messy, sticky, galicky foods...(ribs, garlic bread etc.) And, on that menu would be Bourbon Molasses Chicken Drumsticks.  The whole dish would be drumsticks, corn on the cob and a watermelon wedge....served without silverware.  This dish guarantees sticky fingers and BBQ sauce mustache at the end of the meal.  Then you can spend the rest of the evening picking corn from your teeth.  Sounds like a perfect second date.

Bourbon Molasses Chicken Drumsticks

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup very finely minced onion

1/4 cup molasses

1 cup ketchup

2 T brown sugar

1 1/2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons yellow mustard

1 tsp. chili powder

pepper to taste

1/2 cup bourbon

12 chicken drumsticks, skins removed (if you don't want to remove the skin it's okay....)

salt and pepper

1.  Put olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  When oil is hot, add onion and saute until soft, about 6 minutes.  Add molasses, ketchup, brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, mustard chili powder and pepper.  Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes.  Stir in bourbon, and cook for an additional 3 minutes.  Taste.  Adjust sauce if needed by adding salt, pepper, chili powder or sugar.  (I've noticed that I've only needed to add a pinch of pepper).  Pour about 1/2-3/4 of a cup of the sauce to a bowl and set it aside.

2.  Season the drumsticks with salt and pepper.  Let sit at room temperature for thirty minutes.

3.  Prepare BBQ to medium high heat.  Grill drumsticks about 25 minutes, rotating the drumsticks every ten minutes or so.  Take the cooked drumsticks and dunk them in reserved sauce and return to drumsticks to grill.  Grill until the glaze is all caramelized all over the drumsticks, about 3 minutes.

4.  Put cooked and glazed drumsticks on a serving plate, then brush remaining sauce all over the drumsticks until they are sticky and COVERED in glaze.

Serve with a side of moist towelettes.

Candied Popcorn

Popcorn is a regular snack in this house.  The kids are always asking for popcorn and chocolate milk.  We have become the master of brown bag popcorn, and stove top popcorn.  We never use instant microwave popcorn, and we invested in an electric popcorn machine that we keep in the backyard for movie nights.  But, sometimes I crave kettle corn, caramel corn and my latest popcorn craze is candied popcorn.  It has a fresh sweet vanilla taste, a crunchy bite and, it's colorful!!  This recipe can be adapted for any holiday.  Serve it in treat bags.  It would also make a GREAT holiday gift just put it in a tin, and stick a bow on it.

Candied Popcorn

1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernals
3 Tablespoons vegetable or corn oil  (DO NOT USE butter or Olive oil!)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
food coloring

NOTE: this recipe makes enough for  is just for 1 color.  I recommend making 2 batches and using different colors for each batch.  It is too difficult to divide the sugar mixture into two, or to double the recipe.  The popcorn can be made first and kept warm in the oven.  The sugar mixture needs to be used quickly after being made, and cannot be made ahead of time.  KISS!

1.  Preheat the oven to warm, about 200 degrees.   Place a rimmed cookie sheets in the oven.
2.  Measure out 1/2 cup of the unpopped popcorn kernels.  Put 3 Tablespoons of oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium high heat, add 1 popcorn kernel.  Cover with lid.  When the 1 kernel pops the oil is ready.  Add remaining 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels to the saucepan, and cover with lid, then "shake" the pan.  I take two oven mitts, hold the handles of the saucepan and lid, and move the saucepan back and forth over the top of the burner.  This prevents the popcorn from burner, and gets all the kernels popped.  Listen for the kernels popping, when the popping stops, remove the pan from heat and take the lid off.  Pour the popped popcorn onto one of the prepared baking sheets in the warm oven. 
3.  Set aside a large paper grocery bag or a very large bowl.  (this will be used to mix the sugar syrup and the popcorn) In another medium saucepan add sugar, water and salt.  Bring to a full boil, then let it boil for 3 full minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, add in vanilla and food coloring, stir to combine.  Working quickly, pour popcorn into large grocery bag or bowl.  Pour sugar syrup over popcorn, and either shake the bag or mix the popcorn with a wooden spoon until it is all covered.  Pour candied popcorn back on to baking sheet and let cool completely, about 1-2 hours.  Store in an air-tight container for up to two weeks.