Snickerdoodles

This cookie recipe is classic, and I always forget how good these cookies are until I make them again. NOTE: You can't leave out the cream of tartar; the cookies won't taste the same or have crackly tops without it!

Ingredients:

• 2 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup + 1/4 cup sugar, divided
• 1 stick of butter, softened
  
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

Start by sifting together the flour, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. You will need an electric mixer, by the way. Using the mixer, beat the butter and shortening together; as soon as those are combined, add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes or so). Add the vanilla extract and the eggs (one at a time) and mix until combined. On the mixer's lowest speed, stir in the flour mixture--little by little. Make sure all the flour is incorporated into the dough.
Next, line baking sheets with parchment paper (or silicone mats if you have them). Mix together the 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon in a bowl. With wet hands, roll the dough into 1-inch balls and then roll each dough ball in the cinnamon-sugar before placing it on the baking sheet. The cookies will spread out quite a bit so leave about 2 inches between each.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes (or longer if you like a crunchy cookie). After removing them from the oven, let the cookies cool 8 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Quick Chipotle chicken with roasted sweet potato

I made this last night for dinner and it was delicious and very easy. I really like the taste of chipotle with chicken and it also tastes great with sweet potato. I made this for one person, so if you're making it for 2, double the ingredients, 3, triple it and so on.

Ingredients:

• 1 small to medium sweet potato, skin on
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 4 oz)
  
• 1/2 medium green bell pepper, cored and chopped
• 1/3 cup chopped onion (I was using 1/4 of a very large onion)
• 1-2 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp chipotle salsa, divided (this was a shortcut since it was premade, but to make your own, take some diced tomatoes and mix in 1-2 tsp minced chipotle pepper with a little bit of the adobo sauce that those come canned in)
• salt and pepper
• pat of butter for the sweet potato
  

First I took the sweet potato and poked a few holes in it with a fork, then microwaved it on high for 2.5 minutes. This speeds up the process of baking it, and if you have a large sweet potato, I advise that you microwave it for longer. Preheat your oven for 375 degrees, and wrap your sweet potato in foil; when the oven is hot enough, set the potato right on the oven rack and bake for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop your veggies and heat the olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the bell pepper and onion; sautee until soft, around 6-8 minutes. Season your chicken breast with a little bit of salt and pepper, but don't go overboard with it. Make some room on the bottom of the pan and add the chicken breast plus the 1/4 cup chipotle salsa. Cover the saucepan to cook the chicken through, about 8-9 minutes, turning it over once halfway.
When the sweet potato is done, take it out of the foil and remove the skin by cutting a few slits in the skin and peeling it away. Careful though, because that potato is hot!
Mash the potato on your plate, season with a little bit of salt and pepper, add the butter (if desired) and 1 tbsp of the chipotle salsa and combine. When the chicken is done, turn off the heat and serve the chicken and veggies over the mashed sweet potato. Suggested garnish: a dollop of sour cream and a few tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Almond Chocolate Chip Biscotti

This is a recipe I kind of tweaked from America's Test Kitchen cookbook (seriously a good buy if you're looking for an awesome cookbook). As far as I'm concerned, using the orange zest in this recipe is a must. If you don't have any oranges, then forget about making these biscotti.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 3/4 cup toasted or roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons grated orange zest
• 2 to 3 oz semisweet chocolate baking squares, chopped
• parchment paper
  

     Heat oven to 350 degrees and make sure your oven rack is in the middle position. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together; set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter together in a bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy. Be patient, this might take 4 minutes or so. Under-creamed butter is still grainy and not at all fluffy.
After the butter and sugar are creamed, add the eggs one at a time and beat until incorporated. Then add the two extracts and the orange zest. [Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed].
     Using the lowest mixer speed, add the flour a little at a time, but don't overmix the dough. Fold the chopped almonds and chocolate into the dough.
The dough will be pretty sticky, which is why you need some flour on your hands for shaping the dough. Split the dough in half and shape each half (with floured hands) into a 3" by 10" loaf directly on the parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Keep the loaves about 3 inches apart from each other. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the loaves are golden, then remove them from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.
     Using a very sharp or serrated knife, cut the loaves on a diagonal into slices (no more than an inch wide, 3/4" is probably best). Put the slices back on the cookie sheet, laying them on their sides. Bake at 325 degrees another 10 to 15 minutes. You can choose to flip the slices over halfway, but I didn't bother.
     These take about 30 minutes to cool after they're baked a second time--see if you can wait that long though. . .!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin bars

These are semi-healthy since I use oat flour instead of white flour, and they aren't too sugary sweet. Sure, there is chocolate in them, but the antioxidants make them healthy too, right?

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick oats, ground into flour
  
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  
• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I like to buy the mini ones)
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. The oat flour can be made by processing oats (quick or regular) in a food processor until fine. In a bowl, combine the oat flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk; then add the pumpkin, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Switch to a spoon and add the oat flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture, stirring until just blended. Then stir in the chocolate chips. Spray a 9-inch square pan with cooking spray and pour the batter into the pan, spreading it to the corners. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes. You can test done-ness with a toothpick--like you would for a cake.
Servings: 12
P.S. These taste really good while they're still warm.

Cherry Cheesecake

I adapted this recipe from a Tyler Florence recipe on Foodnetwork.com. (He is AMAZING, which I think needed to be said.)
I used the same filling ingredients but added some almond extract, and I didn't use quite as much lemon zest as he calls for. I hope no one will judge me for using canned cherry topping instead of preparing my own cherry confit, but it's not exactly cherry season anymore and I would have paid a hefty price to use fresh ones. I added a little almond extract to the cherry topping as well; it's such a good complement.

Crust:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 5 tablespoons sugar
  
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons melted butter

Filling:

• 24 ounces cream cheese
  
• 1 cup sugar
• zest from 1/2 of a lemon
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
  
• 5 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Topping:

• 18 or 21 oz can cherry pie filling
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
  

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, and butter together in a mixing bowl. Pour the mixture into the springform pan and using a mixing cup press the crumbs into the base. Using your fingers gently press crumbs into the sides of the pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Let cool.

For the filling:

Tyler says to use a food processor, but I did well with a hand mixer. In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese and the sugar together. Add the zest, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend until smooth. Add 5 egg yolks and heavy cream, and beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until a soft froth forms. Add 2 tablespoons sugar slowly to the egg whites and continue to whisk until soft peaks form. [I had to switch to the whisk beater on my hand mixer to get soft peaks.] Fold the egg whites into cream cheese mixture, a little bit at a time until fully integrated. Pour into the prepared spring-form pan.

Bake between 60 and 75 minutes or until firm. Let cool for about 30 minutes, and then add the topping (the combined cherry filling, lemon juice, and almond extract). I've been told it's best to refrigerate the cheesecake overnight before serving, so that's what I plan on doing!

Tyler's original recipe can be found here.