Black Pepper & Molasses Pulled Chicken from Cookign Light

So, I made the Black Pepper & Molasses Pulled Chicken recipe from Cooking Light back in late October. Ugh! I've been a little lazy in my blog posts, and I apologize!

Anyway, speaking of lazy, when I made the recipe I didn't pick up rolls and then I was too lazy to shred the chicken. So, I just cooked it up in the pan with the sauce and served the boneless, skinless thighs as they were.


Quite a tasty and simple little recipe. I served this along side Ellie Kriegers amazing Dirty Broccoli. Seriously, if you haven't had Dirty Broccoli yet, you've gotta try it. So good!!

Black Pepper & Molasses Pulled Chicken
Cooking Light

TWD-Orange Sables

Here is another recipe I wasn't overly eager to try and that I have fallen for. Barbara, of the blog Bungalow Barbara, chose the Sable cookies for this weeks TWD recipe.

In the playing around section of the recipe, Dorie talks about Lemon Sables and they sounded quite dreamy to me. However, when it came time to make the cookies, all I had was one giant orange in the house. Since Dorie suggests using any type of citrus zest for the cookies, I went with the orange. Now, orange isn't my favorite flavoring in a cookie. I was really looking forward to Lemon Sables, but I was simply too lazy to make a trip to the store for lemons.

I made the dough on Friday and left it in the fridge over the weekend. I stumbled upon some pretty multi-colored sugar during the weekend that I was excited about using in these cookies.


After getting the logs coated in a little egg yolk and rolled in the sugar, I put them in the oven and baked them for about 12 minutes. I think my cookies might have been smaller than what Dorie states in the book, but they were perfect.


Once they were cooled, I was having a difficult time resisting the urge to have a glittery Orange Sable, so I gave in. Yum! Very tasty. As a matter of fact, they were so much tastier than I thought they might be. Turns out I liked Orange Sables. Who knew??

Thank you Barbara, for presenting me with a chance to expand my horizons.


For the recipe, please visit the lovely Barbara's blog.

Alton Brown's The Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Thanks to Jennifer, I am now aware of the fact that today, December 4th, is National Cookie Day. Who knew?? Not me.

But now that I do know, it gives me just the push I need to get this post up about Alton Brown's The Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookie.

I can now say that I have made all of the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes that Mr. Brown has from this episode of his show. Hands down, my favorite is The Chewy. I love a chewy cookie and it has seriously become my go-to Chocolate Chip cookie.

However, there are people in my life that I like to bake for who prefer textures other than The Chewy. For instance, my sister and her husband prefer thinner, crunchier cookies. So, I made them The Thin recently. Not my favorite style, but I still ate 'em.

And then there is The Puffy. This cookie is made with cake flour, which I don't think I've ever used in a cookie recipe before on it's own. It also calls for butter flavored shortening, which I don't normally use, but I did use it for this recipe. I did make a small error when getting the dry ingredients ready. After checking the recipe over several times to make sure it was baking POWDER and not baking SODA, I added 1/2 teaspoon of baking SODA while looking directly at the recipe. DOH!


Well, I scooped a 1/2 tsp of flour out where I thought I dumped the baking soda and then added a single teaspoon of baking POWDER and decided to see how it worked out. I decided to make these cookies smaller to get more bang for my buck, and I checked them after around 8 minutes in the oven. They came out of the oven around 9 to 10 minutes.


The result? Although they were nice and puffy when they came out of the oven, they slowly sunk into themselves, leaving me with a not very puffy cookie. No biggie! The cookies had a slightly metallic taste to me and they tasted sorta cakey. Still good, but not my favorite. Also, I tried to under-bake them a little to get a softer, chewier texture, but these were on the crunchy/crispy end of the spectrum. I think most Chocolate Chip Cookies deserve a try, but until I find another winner, I will always go back to The Chewy!

The Puffy

Corn Bread Muffins from Cooking Light

This is a very simple and basic cornbread recipe I made to go along with Ellie Krieger's Confetti Chili. I must admit that I was a little disappointed in the blandness of this recipe. I like a little bit of sweetness to my cornbread, but this one really didn't have it. Actually, I should have paid closer attention when I was making the recipe. Maybe then I would have noticed that there wasn't ANY sugar at all in there. I would've done something about that! :0)


So, the recipe is titled Corn Bread Muffins, but I made these into little mini loaves for variety. It was a okay with the chili, but I don't think I would make it again. Well....they can't all be winners, can they?

You can find the recipe here.

CEiMB--Confetti Chili

This weeks CEiMB recipe was chosen by Lauren of I'll Eat You. Look at Lauren! A recipe for TWD and CEiMB all in the same week. Be sure to check out Lauren's blog for this recipe and to see the gorgeous Rosy Poached Pear Tart she chose for Tuesdays with Dorie.

We really enjoyed this chili.



I actually made it in late September to use up some fresh corn we had in the fridge. It was a little too spicy for the boys, but Marc and I really enjoyed it. I'm sure we will be making this one again during the coming winter.


Thanks, Lauren for a terrific recipe choice. I'm glad I was able to cook along with you!

Christmas Time Mean Cookies...

Yes, sir. Around here, Christmas definitely means cookies. (Among other things, of course!)

I have started thinking about the variety of cookies I would like to make this year. Usually, I give cookie trays to 3 or 4 of closest neighbors and friends, and I also take a tray to the library. I make treat bags for the kids at the pre-school party that contain cookies as well. I'm also a member of my local Lions club. And this year, I am once again making 50 treat bags for a holiday shopping tour that we are hosting for some under-privileged children.

So, that means...it's time to start BAKING!

While flipping through magazines and cookbooks and my folder filled with cookie recipes, I was happily surprised by an email from the friendly folks of Domino Sugar.

They were thoughtful and generous enough to send me a $20 Visa Gift Card to aid me in stocking up my holiday baking supplies. Thanks to them, I loaded up on some Domino Sugar products. Here is just a small amount of my loot.



Now that the pantry is stocked, I have started stock piling some dough. So far, I've made the dough for Gingerbread Men from the Domino website. I also made dough for Sugar Cookie Cut Outs from King Arthur Flour. And then, this afternoon, I tossed together the recipe for Alton Browns The Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies.

It was a rainy afternoon here, so it was a perfect day to be in the kitchen. Fear not! I was not lonely in the kitchen.

I had help.

Christian was kind enough to watch over my shoulder and offer practical advice, such as "You should taste it now, Mommy."

He's so good.

And he doesn't mind the Christmas music that I keep playing during my bake-a-thons.

Back to my cookies. So, mostly I have just made dough and tossed it into the freezer to bake off next week. But I did find time to make Ellie Kriegers Triple Chocolate Cookies.

I baked them up to have them around as part of my Thanksgiving dessert table. However, these little chocolate buttons of pleasure did not last very long around here.

Tender and brownie-esque, I would definitely make them again!

You can find the recipe here.

I would like to offer my sincere thanks again to the Domino Sugar people. Your generosity is truly appreciated by me. And please know that so much of what I bake will be going out to my friends and family, so they will be appreciating it, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I wish all of my friends a very happy and bountiful Thanksgiving. Enjoy your day!