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Until January 31, 2010.

Monte Cristo Wraps

Well, my recipe is kind of late this month, I've been working on perfecting it....

I love Mote Cristo Sandwiches, but deep-fried sandwiches are not very good for you and make you (or at least make me) feel kind of yucky after eating to many (which I always do). So I thought that there had to be a way to still get the savory/salty/sweet tastes without all the grease. Here's my attempt at it, it's not the same as eating the real thing, but it's tasty and won't necessitate a triple-by-pass.

Recipe serves 2 adults--increase as needed
Ingredients:

Wrap:
5 flour tortillas (I like to cook up some raw ones, but do what works for you)
boysenberry jam (or your favorite, but I'd stick with a berry flavor)
5 slices of white cheese (like provolone or swiss)
5 large slices of deli turkey
about 2 slices of deli ham

Batter:
1 egg
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 flour
1 tsp of baking powder

Breading:
panko bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350
Whisk your batter together until pretty smooth (only a few small lumps should remain) set aside.
Assemble your wraps; you can spread the jam on the tortilla or serve it on the side for dipping. Put one cheese slice (I like to tear it in strips), one piece of turkey and about half a slice of ham on each tortilla. Wrap burrito style (fold the ends in).
Dip in batter.
Roll in Panko.
Place on foil-lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 min.

I like to cut them on a diagonal & serve with salad and/or fruit.

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Candy Cane Brownies

Time for another recipe.... these are amazing & were a huge hit at the church Christmas party; I think I may have to rename them Christmas Crack Brownies.

Candy Cane Brownies
adapted from ourbestbites.com

1 Box of Betty Crocker Brownies (baked in 9x13 according to package directions & cooled)

Frosting:
2 c powdered sugar
4 T butter softened (10 sec in the microwave will do it; use real butter)
1.5 t peppermint extract (sounds like a lot but it's right)
1 T milk (mine took two see directions about this)
a few drops of red food coloring (I was out and just added a little pink writing icing that I had)

Chocolate Layer:
1 c chocolate chips (semi or dark, not milk)
5 T butter cut in pieces (you need to use the real stuff)

Topping:
crushed candy canes (I used Bob's "soft mint sticks" you can get them at Walmart)

Directions:
Mix all frosting ingredients together with mixer, if needed add more milk a teaspoon at a time (this is where I ended up adding 3 tsp; thus, 2 tbsp total). Spread on cool brownies--I stuck mine in the fridge to go faster. You will likely get brownie crumbs in your pretty frosting, but that's okay it will be covered with chocolate. Put back in fridge.

Put chocolate and butter in a bowl and microwave in 30 second increments (it took me 60 seconds total) until smooth (stir after every 30 sec--chocolate holds it's shape until you stir it).

Pour over frosting and spread quickly; I poured it all over (not just in one spot), spread it a bit with a spatula and jiggled the pan around to get it all over. (If you touch it too much it will mix with the frosting).

Sprinkle the crushed candy canes on top. Place back in fridge to firm up.

You can cut & enjoy once the chocolate is set.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

These are SO good I had to share them, but also need to give credit where credit is due....The recipe can be found at http://www.bakedperfection.com/search/label/Muffin. Here's the recipe with my notes in parentheses:

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
adapted from Annie's Eats

Yield: 24 muffins (mine made more like 28)

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

4 eggs

1 ¼ cups vegetable oil (I used half extra virgin olive oil and half canola)

2 cups sugar

2 cups pumpkin puree (I think Libby's is what most stores carry in a can)

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used neufchatel a.k.a. 1/3 less fat cream cheese)

1 cup powdered sugar

(I also like a little vanilla in it)

For the streusel topping:

½ cup sugar

¼ cup and 1 tsp. flour

4 tbsp. butter, cubed

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and whip until smooth. Form into a log on plastic wrap or foil, making sure that the diameter is small enough to fit into the well of a muffin pan. Wrap the log up tightly and freeze until slightly hardened, 1-2 hours. (I found that even after letting freeze for 2 hours, it was still not hard, not sure if I'll go to all the trouble of making the log next time, maybe I'll just scoop it with a spoon.)

To make the muffins, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Mix well and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin puree.Mix until well combined. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

To make the streusel topping, combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix together with a pastry blender or two forks until crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two muffin pans with paper liners.To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well halfway with batter.Remove the cream cheese log from the freezer and slice into 24 equal slices. Place a slice in each muffin well. Divide the remaining muffin batter evenly among the muffin cups, on top of the cream cheese. Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top of the batter.Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before serving (if you can wait that long).

Recipes

Here's where I'll put links to all the recipes on the site you can navigate here the same way you do to find out about products, from the picture on the right side.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Candy Cane Brownies

Monte Cristo Wraps

Chicken Enchilada Soup

Breanna's Biscotti

Chocolate Chip Cookies

As promised here's my chocolate chip cookie recipe; this is the one everyone keeps asking for once they've had one of my cookies.


1 c. butter (2 sticks)
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. sugar
2  eggs
2 tsp. vanilla (at least, I just eyeball it)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 c. flour
chocolate chips about 2 cups, but it's up to you how chocolate-y to make them.

It's easiest in a mixer so that's how I'll explain it...
Preheat oven to 375
Cut the butter into a few pieces, add the butter & sugar to your bowl. Start on the lowest setting, once the butter won't fly out of the bowl turn to speed 4 and cream butter & sugar until smooth.
Add eggs and vanilla mix until smooth once more.
Add 1 cup of flour then the baking soda & salt on top of it, then the other 2 cups of flour; again start on the lowest setting, once the flour won't dust your entire kitchen turn to speed 4 for 30 seconds.
Turn down to lowest speed and add chips mix until evenly distributed (you may need to turn up the speed to do this).
Spoon dough on to sheet & bake 8-10 min.

Happy baking...more recipies coming soon :)