Here’s a quick and easy meal we had a few weeks ago.  The recipe calls for preparing these as “wraps” (like you didn’t know that from the title, right?), and if you do that, they can be made a few hours in advance.  We had them wrap-style the first night, but cooked them up quesadilla-style the second night, and MUCH prefered them that way.  The Picky Apple and I liked the extra crunch the tortilla provided when served quesadilla-style.  If you try the recipe, let me know which way you prefer!

Black Bean Wraps

from Southern Living Great Food for Busy Cooks

Ingredients:

• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup (4 oz) shredded Monterrey Jack cheese with peppers
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp onion salt
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 tbsp salsa
• 6 (8 inch) soft taco-sized flour tortillas
• 1/2 (10 oz) package fresh spinach, thoroughly washed
• 1 (7 oz) jar roasted red bell peppers, drained and coarsely chopped
• 1 carrot, shredded (optional)
• Salsa

Process first 4 ingredients in a food processor 30 seconds or until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides as needed.  Transfer mixture to bowl.

Process beans and salsa in a food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides as needed.

Spread bean mixture and cheese mixture over tortillas, leaving a 1/2 inch border; top with spinach, peppers, chicken, and if desired, carrot.  Roll tortillas tightly; wrap each in plastic wrap.  Chill, if desired.  Serve with salsa.

Note: Black Bean Wraps may be prepared up to 4 hours ahead and chilled until ready to serve.  To serve warm, prepare wraps as directed, wrapping in aluminum foil instead of plastic wrap.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Place on a baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Like lots of other brides, I registered for and received an ice cream maker as a gift for our wedding.  That ice cream maker has only been used a few times over the last four and a half years.  My first few attempts were unsuccessful.  The Picky Apple is, well, picky about the exact flavors and more importantly the texture of his ice cream, and none of our homemade attempts were living up to his standards.  And so the ice cream maker sat and sat and sat…..until recently.

I was inspired to try again recently when The Littlest Apple developed an addiction to ice cream in the last month or so.  Most mommies might cringe at this, but we have wholeheartedly embraced this love of ice cream.  He has ice cream daily, and has come to expect it.  You see, The Littlest Apple is still very small for his age (like, off the charts low weight) due to several factors I won’t delve into here….but his extreme pickiness isn’t helping. Per doctor and dietician orders, we are to feed him all the heavy cream, oil, butter, sugar in the land.  Ice cream?  Bring it on!  Have seconds, even! When I look for ice cream at the store, I look for the highest fat and calorie content I can find.  This is usually the Ben & Jerry’s or the Haagan Daaz (you know, the GOOD ones).  But I’m never able to buy those because The Littlest Apple has an egg allergy (yet another contributing factor…the food allergies), and all the Ben and Jerry’s and Haagan Daaz flavors have egg.  So, I came up with a few recipes for homemade ice cream with no egg and busted out my ice cream maker.

This, my first attempt satisfied The Picky Apple’s desire for a banana ice cream sans nuts and other chunks, and gave me another option for The Littlest Apple.  It was easy to mix and tasted super banana-y.  We’ll definitely be making this one again!

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

adapted from Joy The Baker

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces Cool Whip (1/2 of an 8ounce container)
• 7 ounces sweetened condensed milk (1/2 of a 14 ounce can)
• 1/2 gallon milk
• 1 (3 1/2 ounce) package Jello Banana Cream Instant Pudding
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 bananas (mashed)

In a bowl mix cool whip, condensed milk, banana pudding and about 1/2 of the half gallon of milk.  Add chopped bananas.

Pour mixture into an ice cream maker.  With machine on, pour in the rest of the half gallon of milk.  (It took less than half a gallon to fill my ice cream maker.)

Stir the mixture and begin freezing according the manufacturers instructions.

Remove very soft ice cream and place in a freezer friendly plastic container.    Serve with slice bananas and vanilla wafers.  (Or leave out the vanilla wafers if you’ve got an egg allergy!)

I’m always on the quest for a new cookie recipe that might be just a little better than my current favorite.  I’m fickle that way.  I’ve never really been very happy with my standard oatmeal cookie recipe, and The Picky Apple has been asking that I try some new ones.  I’ve always felt like oatmeal cookies were a little bit boring.  But I think that’s because I just hadn’t really found a GOOD oatmeal cookie recipe.  Turns out that oatmeal cookies have the potential to be really great…who knew?!

I made this recipe for a crawfish boil over the weekend.  It made LOTS of cookies, but every last one got eaten at the party.  I got lots of compliments on this recipe, and all credit goes to Anna at Cookie Madness.  She and Martha are my go-to sources for all things cookie related!

Friendly Kitchen Oatmeal Cookies

from Cookie Madness

Ingredients:

• 8 oz unsalted butter (230 grams)
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar (240 grams)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (100 grams)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoon milk, soy or regular milk (30 ml)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour (220 grams)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. sea salt (if you’re using salted butter, skip this)
• 3 cups rolled oats (300 grams)
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (80 grams) — optional

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Cream the butter and the sugars with an electric mixer until light. Beat in the egg, then the milk and the vanilla extract.

Stir the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together and gradually stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until it’s incorporated. Stir in the oats chocolate chips and coconut (if using).

Drop dough, making 1 inch rounds, onto the cookie sheet, placing about 1 1/2 inches apart so they have room to spread.

Bake on center rack for 10 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the center.
Cool on baking sheet for at least 1-2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely

Well. Hello there.  It’s been a few months, hasn’t it?  I’ve been thinking about this blog lots, writing imaginary blog posts in my head (bloggers, tell me you do that too!!) and getting lots of questions from friends and family.  “Why haven’t you been posting recently?”  “Have you tried any new recipes lately?”  “Do you plan to continue your blog?”  I have just been absolutely incapable of getting back in to the swing of it.  Honestly, most of the problem is probably my perfectionism.  I’m terribly guilty of all-or-nothing thinking in many aspects of my life and it can be paralyzing.  As that pertains to this blog: wanting to have the PERFECT blog post with the PERFECT intro to the PERFECT recipe with the PERFECT photos of the PERFECTLY cooked food.  And if I can’t live up to that, then nothing at all, and I just can’t be a blogger.  But that’s an awful lot of pressure, wouldn’t you say?  It’s been keeping me from sharing some pretty great recipes with all of you and keeping me from blogging which I’ve really come to enjoy.  So I’m back, just aiming to post semi-regularly with a recipe or two!  If I can get a great photo (my hubby, The Picky Apple is usually the food photographer), then super!  If not, then I hope you’ll forgive me.  If I can write a witty and enjoyable intro to go along with the recipe, then even better, but it isn’t always going to come together.  My main desire is to share great recipes with family, friends, and any one else who is interested in what I have to say and what I’m cooking and baking!  I’ll hope you’ll forgive my  prolonged absence and come back to check things out!  And of course, I always love comments.  They make my day, even if I don’t get a chance to respond.

Daily life with The Littlest Apple seems to have gotten a lot busier.  He is on the move, a busy little bee.  A 20 month old with his very own social calendar.   Wanting to do it all by himself but not quite able to.  VERY interested in helping in the kitchen, which is heartwarming or annoying, depending on my level of patience at the time!  His favorite thing to do is “mix”, and he is always asking, “Mix? Bowl?  Mix?  Miiiiiiiiiiiiix?!!”  This is typically followed by a screaming tantrum on the floor if I do not indulge his demands.  He recently figured out how to push a chair from the table across the kitchen to the counter where I do most of my food prep.  Gulp.  I think I’m in trouble now!

To kick off my return, here’s a recipe for a bundt cake that’s great for breakfast, dessert, or anytime!  This was one of the first recipes that I really let The Littlest Apple help with.  He helped stir together the dry ingredients, added the blueberries, and poured things.  He was so proud of his cake, and told his grandparents all about it the next day when they came for a visit.

The recipe is from Cooking Light so it is (relatively) healthy, but is absolutely full of flavor.  I’ve had lemon-poppyseed, and lemon-blueberry combinations before, but never this trio of lemon-blueberry-poppyseed.  They make an amazing threesome!

Glazed Lemon-Blueberry Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

from Cooking Light, April 2009

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tbsp dry breadcrumbs (I omitted)
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
• 3/4 cup nonfat buttermilk
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon extract  (I omitted this)

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp nonfat buttermilk
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To prepare cake, coat a 12 cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; dust with breadcrumbs.

Combine granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffly (about 5 minutes).  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.  Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt); stir with a whisk.  Add blueberries to flour mixture; toss to coat.  Combine 3/4 cup buttermilk, 1/3 cup juice, and extracts.  Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.  Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool pan on a wire rack 10 minutes.  Remove cake from pan; cool on rack.

To prepare glaze, place powdered sugar in a small bowl; add 1 tablespoon buttermilk and 1 tablespoon juice; stirring with a whisk until combined.  Pour glaze over warm cake; cool completely.

Yield: 16 servings

Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, shall we?  I started my blog in January of 2008, and though I haven’t posted quite as frequently as I would have liked, I tried lots of new and fabulous recipes, gained many new readers, and found lots of new blogs and more recipes as a result!  I’m closing in on my 100th post…My goals for this blog in 2009 include more frequent posts, better and more(!) photos, more original recipes, giveaways and contests, a possible site makeover, roundups of my favorite posts from other blogs, and printer-friendly recipes.  If I can get all that done, it will be a great 2009 here at The Picky Apple, don’t you think?!

Here are a few of your favorite posts from 2008.  I was intrigued by what y’all found most interesting….not necessarily the things I liked best!  These posts were visited most frequently, according to Google Analytics:

Apple Fritters

Beer Bread

Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes

Here are my favorite things from 2008…..it was tough narrowing it down!

Banana Crunch Muffins

Savory Baked Chicken

Blueberry Crumb Cake

Creamy Nutella Cheesecake with Chocolate Ganache and Toasted Hazelnuts

Smoked Sausage, Butternut Squash and Wild Rice Soup

Greek Chicken Pitas

Migas and Potato Hash

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

All-American Beef Chili

Warm Goat Cheese Toasts with Rosemary, Pecans and Honey

Cinnamon Rolls

Happy New Year!!!

Happy Holidays everyone!  I’ve been planning to share this recipe with all of you since I started this blog back in January, but I wanted to wait to post about these at Christmas since that’s when I usually make them.  I first made this cinnamon roll recipe for Christmas morning 4 or 5 years ago.  It was a recipe originally intended for a bread machine.  I don’t have a bread machine, so over the years I’ve perfected my own technique and balance of ingredients.  For the first few years, I ONLY made these at Christmas, but in the last year or so, I’ve started making them for brunch with my friends, special occasions, and really any time they are requested!  You could say they’ve become my “signature” breakfast/brunch dish.

In the chaos of Christmas this year with a 16 month old, we failed to get any pictures of the cinnamon rolls.  I was up at 5:45 that morning and had an awful sinus headache all day long. (Still suffering from a sinus infection now).  I wish I could say I was up early on Christmas morning just because of the headache, or because I had to work on the cinnamon rolls, or because The Littlest Apple was super excited about Christmas, but nope.   He’s still a little too young for that anyway.  5:45am is what time The Littlest Apple gets up every. single. morning. (and as a result, I get up then too….I just can’t bring myself to get up much earlier than him).  Sorry, just needed to complain about that for a sec.

Back to the cinnamon rolls!  Don’t be intimidated by the yeast and the rises and the rolling, but they do require a little bit of planning ahead because the dough has to rise twice.  It is best to do at least first rise the night before.  If I get started early enough the day before I’m serving them, I’ll roll out the dough after the first rise, add the filling, slice and let them do the second rise over night.  If that doesn’t work in to my schedule (as it happened this year), then I do the first rise overnight, then add filling and do the second rise first thing in the morning.  The second rise takes several hours, but honestly, I’ve stuck them in the oven after only an hour of rising and everything worked out.

One additional note:  I normally use bread flour for the cinnamon rolls, but in a pinch all-purpose flour works great too.  I used all-purpose flour this year (when I found my brand new bread flour full of weevils…blech!!! at 9pm on Christmas Eve) , and I thought the rolls seemed lighter and fluffier than normal.

Okay, so one more additional note:  The Picky Apple doesn’t like cream cheese frosting (and I suspect there may be a few other family and friends who don’t either, but are too polite to say).  So I’ve started making a basic powdered sugar and milk icing to put on a few of the cinnamon rolls.

Here’s just one shot of some of the presents at The Picky Apple’s parents house Christmas morning.  Madness, I tell you!

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)
• 1 packet (2 1/2 tsp) yeast
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour (or use all-purpose flour in a pinch)
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, room temperature

Directions:

Add yeast to milk and let stand for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix eggs with sugar using electric mixer for 7 minutes, or until pale.  Add the milk and yeast to the eggs, then add the melted margarine and salt.  Add the flour gradually, then knead for 10 minutes.  (I use my stand mixer for this).  Let rest until doubled (5 hours or overnight).

After the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.  Let the dough sit while you combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Roll dough into a rectangle, approximately 16×21″.  Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.  Roll up dough jelly-roll style, and cut into 12 rolls.

Place rolls in a greased 9×13″ pan, cover and let rise until nearly doubled.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Bake rolls until golden brown, about 15 minutes.  Spread frosting (recipes follow) on warm rolls before serving.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt

In a stand mixer, beat together all ingredients until smooth.  If frosting is too thick, add milk by the tsp until the desired consistency is reached.

Beginner’s Icing

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients.  If icing is too thick or if you prefer runnier icing, add more milk.  If you prefer thicker icing, add more powdered sugar.

For the last few years, I’ve had grand plans to give all of our friends and family with massive platters or boxes overflowing with various kinds of home baked cookies and candies.  For the last few years, I’ve fallen severely short of that goal, managing only a dozen or so poorly decorated cookies for my family and The Picky Apple’s family.  In the past, I’ve always felt like my “dream” cookie tray would include beautifully iced sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies.

Well things are changing this year, folks.  Over the weekend, I had a marathon baking session and baked nearly 300 cookies.  Definitely a first for me!  I had even more planned, but I really just ran out of steam on Sunday evening.  I avoided the sugar and gingerbread cookies completely.  I didn’t want to deal with cookie cutters and piping on the frosting.  (I definitely want to practice my piping skills, but not for my cookie gifts!) Without further ado, I proudly present, my Cookie Boxes 2008!!  (One sad note, The Picky Apple and I got so carried away with giving away the cookies that we failed to get pictures of 3 of the individual cookies.  The box shown below doesn’t show the Peppermint Pinwheels or the Oreo Truffles.)

I got these adorable boxes at Michael’s.  In addition to the gingerbread man shown here, some boxes had Santa and others had snowmen.  Again, no picture of those boxes because we gave them all away before the photos!

And check out my cute labels!  I ordered these from Tiny Prints when I ordered our photo cards of The Littlest Apple.  They didn’t exactly coordinate with all of the boxes, but I loved them anyway!

Here’s a rundown of all the goodies, with links to the recipe for each:

World Peace Cookies– I read about this recipe from Dorie Greenspan everywhere this time last year.  I’m only a year late trying them.  They are chocolate cookies with chocolate chunks and fleur de sel.  Any chocolate lover’s dream, and I LOVE the saltiness of the cookie.

Chocolate Turtle Cookies– from Cook’s Country magazine.  These look and taste amazing!

Oreo Truffles– a super easy no bake recipe that even the most novice baker could handle!

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies– from Southern Living.  Getting the dough assembled for the pinwheel cookies was a little tricky, but I love the combo of the sugar cookies with the peppermint cream cheese frosting.  Yum!

Blissful Cranberry Cookies-I originally had another cranberry cookie recipe picked out, but I loved that this one had crystalized ginger in addition to the cranberries, pecans, and white chocolate.  Crispy and delicious!

Here are my thoughts on the cookies as a group…I used 5 untested recipes, which I suppose was a little bit of a gamble.  They all turned out yummy, so I guess I lucked out.  My cookies were heavy on the chocolate and nuts because well, that’s what I love.  For those that don’t like chocolate and/or nuts, their only choice would be the Peppermint Pinwheels.  If I had to do it over again, I’d probably switch out one of the 3 chocolate cookies or add a 6th cookie.  Additionally, I didn’t take the prep time of each cookie into consideration much….3 of the 5 required refrigeration of the dough before you could bake.  Not a deal breaker, but I should have planned ahead better to maximize my weekend baking time.

My favorites?  It’s a tie between the World Peace Cookies and the Chocolate Turtle Cookies.  Those two are definitely recipes I’ll come back to again and again in the future.

Whether you got to taste these cookies or not, which recipe is your favorite?  I’ve taken an informal poll from some of the recipients of my cookie boxes, and I’ve gotten lots of different answers!

These cookies have a showstopping look and taste fantastic too!  I went a little heavy on the caramel topping, but I liked more caramel with the dense chocolate cookie and the pecans.  These are a little tricky to transport…the caramel stays sticky even after it cools, so these cookies don’t stack well.  This was one of the cookies I didn’t get a picture of before we gave them all away, but they really did look just like this (grainy) picture!

Chocolate Turtle Cookies

from Cook’s Country, December 2008

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 tbsp butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, separated, plus 1 egg white
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans, chopped fine
• 14 soft caramel candies
• 3 tbsp heavy cream

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat liners.  Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in bowl.  With electric mixer on medium high speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and mix until incorporated.  Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until just combined.  Refrigerate dough until firm, at least 1 hour.

Whisk egg white in another bowl until frothy.  Place pecans in another bowl.  One at a time, roll dough into 1 inch balls, dip in egg whites, then roll in pecans.  Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.  Using teaspoon measure, make indentation in center of each ball.  Bake until set, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking.

Meanwhile, microwave caramels and cream in a bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.  Once cookies are removed from oven, gently press existing indentations with teaspoon measure.  Fill each with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon caramel mixture.  Cool 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

I wanted to make a cookie or bar for this year’s cookie boxes with cranberries, and this recipe caught my eye because of the ginger.  These cookies were yummy, but I would add more crystalized ginger as well as ground ginger next time to make the ginger flavor really “pop.”

Blissful Cranberry Cookies

from Anna at Cookie Madness

Ingredients:

• 4 oz unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup regular vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 scant teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour (7.8 oz)
• 2/3 cup dried cranberries, slightly chopped
• 1/2 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
• 1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (use more if you like)
• 9 oz white chocolate, chopped into very small chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Beat butter, shortening and both sugars with an electric mixer until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat for about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl and beat in salt and baking soda. If using, beat in ginger. Scrape sides of bowl again. Add flour and stir until it is almost mixed in, then stir in cranberries, pecans, white chocolate.

Drop dough about 3 inches apart (these spread quite a bit) by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake for 12-14 minute or until edges are golden brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

Makes about 30 cookies

These have got to be the easiest candies I’ve ever made.  Only 3 ingredients, no baking, and they taste delicious!  You can easily substitute other flavors of Oreos (think chocolate mint), add peanut butter or other flavorings, or switch the coating to white chocolate.  Sorry I didn’t get a photo of these….they went fast!

Oreo Truffles

Makes 30-35 balls

Ingredients:

• 1 package Oreo cookies
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 1 package chocolate bark/ candy coating (I used Baker’s Dipping Chocolate)

Crush Oreos in a gallon size ziplock bag.  Combine crushed Oreos and cream cheese.  Mixture will be very thick.  Form mixture into balls.  Melt chocolate bark according to package directions.  Drop Oreo balls into melted chocolate until coated.  Allow to cool on wax paper.  Store in refrigerator.  For best flavor, bring to room temperature prior to serving.