Simple dipped truffles

Sometimes you just want a plain truffle.  A little soft center and a bit of crunch on the outside.  Simple enough.  Probably a lot more simple than you ever thought.

Ingredients:
2 bags of chocolate chips in your favorite flavor/variety (I like a mix of bittersweet and semi-sweet ghiradelli, but that's me.  Go with your heart!)
1/2 cup heavy cream, plus about 2 tablespoons
1 silicone chocolate or ice cube mold (like here or here)*

Directions:
In a medium microwavable bowl, blend 1 bag's worth of chips with the heavy cream and microwave for 1 minute on high.  Stir vigorously until the chocolate and cream combine (if you still have lumps of chocolate, microwave for another 30 seconds and stir again).  This is the ganache.

Let the mixture cool, then pour into your mold, just short of the tops (if you overflow, just scrape smooth and back into the bowl)

Stick the mold in the freezer for about 10 minutes or until you can use your thumb to press the ganache molds out without breaking them or smashing the shapes.  Put the finished shapes on a plate or pan and stick them back in the freezer while you finish the other molds.

When you're finished with all your shapes, put the remaining chocolate in another microwavable bowl and heat for 1 minute on high.  Take it out and stir, then heat at 30 second intervals until you have a smooth chocolate paste.

Lay out a layer of WAX paper^.

One at a time, use a fork to dip your frozen molds into the chocolate paste and set them on the wax paper.  Make sure to cover the whole mold and shake off all the extra paste.

Keep the extra molds cool in between dips: if they get too warm they'll melt into the paste.

If the paste starts to get thick, microwave it for 10 seconds and stir.

Let cool and enjoy!


*Silicone is important because of the way it will release your chocolate.  If you get a hard plastic mold, it won't let loose.  So don't go there.  Please.
^Silicone mats are also usable, but parchment paper will stick to your finished chocolates

Small change, big difference

I've made a small change to the Onion Bagels recipe that results in a prettier bagel.

Jelly Glaze (for chicken or fish)

Sometimes you want something a little bit different on your chicken or fish.  Maybe you recently tried a glazed white meat and fell in love with the slightly sweet golden-brown coating.  Maybe you've just seen pictures and you're ready to make the leap.

Either way, you should know it's really very easy!  Most glazes for meat are basically just jelly and something to thin it out.  So here's a very basic recipe you can change around a bit to get a great flavor for you.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of sweet jelly (I like Puckerbutt's Lemon Jelly with pepper, but peach, lemon, and other relatively light flavored jellies do just as well)
2 teaspoons of a very light wine (sometimes I substitute sake if I have that instead)

Directions:
Mix your jelly and wine together in a small bowl, stirring until you've knocked out all the big chunks.

Preheat a real or electric grill.  If you have a George Foreman-type grill, no need to grease, but real grills will need a very light coating of vegetable oil to keep the meat from sticking.

Grill your meat until it's about halfway done (about 4 minutes on a regular grill, 2 on an electric for chicken breasts), then brush the jelly mix onto the top, flip, and coat the other side.  Let it grill some more until you have a nice golden color to the glaze, about another 2-3 minutes. (it's the sugar in the jelly that does this, but if you've used a dark jelly it may not be so noticeable)

This recipe makes enough for about 4 chicken breasts or several shrimp kabobs.  Leftover glaze SHOULD NOT be stored as it will have come in contact with the juices of the raw meat.

Rotisserie Chicken and Cheddar Parsley Dumplings

Another thing to do with your rotisserie chicken the next day!

Ingredients (soup)
The bits of meat, LARGE bones (like drumsticks) and skin picked off of 1 rotisserie chicken that were too small to bother eating.  Don't get ligaments or chewy bits.  
About 4 cups of chicken stock
2 stalks celery
1 onion, quartered
About 1 tsp freshly ground pepper (more to taste)
1 spring of thyme (optional)


Ingredients (dumplings the best way)
1 1/2 cup self-rising flour (next to the regular flour.  You can get it at any store.  Promise.)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup cold butter
1/4 cup milk, plus more as needed

Ingredients (dumplings the fast way)
1 1/2 cup Bisquick (Don't even ask me where you can buy this.  Don't.)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup milk, plus more as needed

Directions:
Load all your soup ingredients, minus the stock, in a large crockpot, then cover with the stock plus enough water to come within about two inches of the top of the pot.  Cover and cook at least 6 hours on high.

About thirty minutes before you'd like to serve, put together your dumplings.

For the BEST WAY dumplings, mix together all the dry ingredients, then cut in the cold butter using knives or a pastry cutter until you have tiny chunks of butter throughout.  Then mix in just enough milk to make everything stick together.  The dough shouldn't be sticky.

For FAST WAY dumplings, mix the dry ingredients together, then mix in just enough milk to make everything stick together.  (I hope you're happy with yourself.)

Form dumpling mix into about 10 small balls and drop into the soup.  They'll sink at first, don't worry.  Cover the pot again and leave it for about 10 minutes.  Chow down!

The flakiest pie crust

Some people hate the crust, some people love it.  Personally, I am for the tastiest crusts you can find, but I had a grandmother who made the real deal.

Do not expect this to taste like a flavor-less grocery store crust (though it might not be as pretty), but do expect a flaky, tasty finished product.

This recipe makes two crusts: a top and a bottom to a covered pie, or two separate bottom-only pies.
Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter, cold but not frozen (sitting in the fridge overnight, at the least)*
2 1/2 cups flour (I like do 2 1/4 cups flour and 1/4 cup almond flour or ground almonds for the flavor and crunch, but that's purely personal)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of water

Directions:
 Set your water in the freezer while you do the first steps.  You want it to be very cold.

Put flour and almond flour (if using) in a large mixing bowl with sugar and salt.   Give it a quick stir to make sure the sugar and salt are evenly mixed throughout the flour.

Set the COLD butter (I mean it!  Not room temperature, melted, or soft.  COLD)  in the bowl.  With a pastry cutter (see one here) or two knives, cut the butter up into the flour until it looks like cornmeal (you'll still see flecks of butter.  That's fine!  It makes it tastier)

Now pull your water out of the freezer and add it in.  Start with 4 tablespoons, then work your way up one tablespoon at a time until the dough is sticking together, but not sticky on the outside.  If a little flour remains on the bottom, press the dough down into it and knead just a few times (You don't want it to get hot) until the flour is all incorporated.

Divide dough in half and pat into a disc.  Cover with cling wrap and set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.  (I've found that leaving the dough overnight can make it too hard to work with for me.  I don't much recommend it.)

Take your discs out and roll them out, one at a time, on a lightly floured surface.  You'll probably need to put a bit on top of the dough too to keep it from sticking to your rolling pin.  Dough should be about 1/4 inch thick to stretch out to the proper size for a 9 inch pie pan.  To make moving the crust over to the pan easier, roll it around your rolling pin, then slide it off into the pan.

For the most attractive crust you can manage, fold any excess crust back under the edges forming a fairly regular circle around the edge of the pan.  Then, using your thumbs, press the dough over and in with just a little space in between your thumbs all the way around.

Bake about 10 minutes before you add the pie filling, or as the recipe directs.  (without filling, the bottom can rise.  You can put a handful of dried beans in the bottom or pie beads and it will keep it flat.  Really not the end of the world, though.



*Do not melt your butter or soften it!  If you do, you'll have a thick, solid, dense pie crust.

Onion bagels (Like a BOSS!)

If you, like me, love the poor misunderstood onion bagel, then you know the pain of trying to find them in a grocery store.  As the years go on, it seems you can find them less and less places, and even when you do they're just not as great as you remember.

So what's an onion bagel lover to do?  Make them, obviously!

Ingredients:
2 cups warm water*
2 packages dry yeast (or 4 1/2 teaspoons of the kind you get in a jar)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt (I like rock salt, but that's me.  Doesn't actually matter too much)
1/2 chopped dehydrated onions (they're in your spice aisle, usually on the bottom shelf in a big jar)
5 cups of flour, plus more if needed
1 tablespoon baking soda

Directions:
 Mix the water and sugar together in a large mixing bowl, then sprinkle the yeast on top.  Let it sit for about 10 minutes (If you don't have a foamy top of active yeast after ten minutes, your yeast is dead.  Start over with new yeast.  DO NOT go any further with the recipe if your yeast isn't rising)

Stir in salt and onions, then add in flour.  Start with 3 cups, then work your way up until you're kneading the dough and it isn't sticky at all anymore.

Coat dough with melted butter on all sides, cover, and let rise 40 minutes.

Dust a large work surface with flour.  Divide dough into 16 evenly sized (or nearly evenly sized) pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball, then poke through the middle with your thumbs.  Turn the dough in your hands, stretching slightly and molding the outside, until you have a donut shape with a LARGE hole^  Lay them out on the floured surface a few inches apart, cover, and let rise another 15 minutes.

Broil bagels in your oven (mine automatically sets to 500.  That's fine) for about 4 minutes on the top rack.  Basically you want them to start to brown EVER so slightly.

In a large saucepan, place about 4 cups of water and the baking soda and bring it to a boil.  Drop in a few bagels at a time (their sides touching is ok, but don't stack them) and turn once a minute for 3 minutes.  Pull them out and place them on a towel for a moment to absorb extra moisture, then put on your baking sheet.  Repeat until you've boiled all the bagels.

Preheat oven to 400.  Bake bagels 25-30 minutes (tops should be lightly golden).

Eat immediately or cool, slice, and freeze.


*To get the temperature right, I usually heat 1 cup in the microwave and then add the other at room temperature
^As the dough rises, the holes will close up a little.  Small hole=no hole after rising.

Leftover Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup

You're looking at that rotisserie chicken you bought, thinking there's enough meat left on it to do something, but what?  Not really enough for another full meal, but maybe...

Soup!  The original way to stretch a little bit of food a long way (Ever read Stone Soup?  You should.)

Warning: since you're using the whole chicken, you will be fishing out bones.  They add a lot of flavor, but they can kind of weird out the squeamish.

Ingredients:
The leftover body of your rotisserie chicken (that means the wings, legs, bones, skin, etc, etc)
1 onion, peeled and quartered
2-4 stalks of celery, as you prefer, chopped up roughly
Approximately 1/2 cup of roughly diced whole carrots or chopped baby carrots
A sprig of thyme, if you have it, or some freshly ground pepper if you don't
1/2 a bag of egg noodles

Directions:
Lay the chicken down in a crock pot and pour water over it until it's about 3/4s covered.  Add in everything else.  Cover and cook on high at least 4 hours.

Fish out the bones and the thyme if you added it.

Toss in noodles, stir them in, and let it cook another 10-15 minutes (just letting the noodles soak up juice, really)

Enjoy!