Chellisms

The Power of Voodoo

Who drives three hours for a doughnut?

Ahem.

While we didn't actually drive three hours for a doughnut Voodoo Doughnut's Bacon Maple bars are totally worth it. My mom and Pete just happened to spend this past weekend in Portland and I coerced them into stopping at Voodoo before heading home. Imagine a maple bar with crispy strips of bacon on top, almost like a plate of pancakes with fresh maple syrup and bacon but without the pancakes and a wonderful doughnut instead.

Pete had a Voodoo doughnut and is still raving about it and my mom had an apple fritter that took her all day to finish. Tim and I have had two bacon maple bars each in the past two days and I am more than disappointed that there aren't any left. Check the menu out here and then start driving, but be prepared to wait in line.

Comfort Found

I finished the beans as soon as we came in from soccer practice about 7:45 or so, and Taylor and I dug in while Bailey was taking her sweet time in the shower. They were super yummy!

Comfort Me

With food, of course. Duh.

So, I am still sick. I wish there was some witty comment I could throw in there but I got nothing so let's move on to food. Specifically, comfort food. I haven't eaten much since coming down with the flu and moving on to a head cold that will not stop.

Tim and I had an argument a while back about comfort food. I always think that mine is mashed potatoes, and then when I make them they never quite hit the spot. Sure they taste great, but just not what I am craving. Tim argued that my comfort food is refried beans, I said no way that is just abnormal especially when you are sick. Comfort food is supposed to be something kind of gentle and bland. Rather than argue with me he grabbed his car keys and headed out, he came back about 15 minutes later with a bag from Taco Bell. Fast food refried beans, he told me to eat them and then we would discuss it.

Dumbass was right.

I have 2 1/2 pounds of pinto beans cooking on the stove and a pound of bacon defrosting on the counter, comforting refried yumminess is on it's way!

What's your comfort food? 

Carrot Cake Duplication

Is today only Tuesday? It sure feels like a Thursday. I think I have accomplished more in the last 2 days than I did all last week. Then again, maybe if I had accomplished more last week I wouldn't be rushing around this week.

The girls and I have been putting together baskets for their teachers. We have spent the last two days running around gathering ingredients and baking, mini carrot cakes and fudge. Oh, and Borders gift cards. They have to have something to read while they induce a sugar coma.

Moving right along.

This carrot cake recipe is one that I have been working on for awhile. A few years ago while working for a mortgage company in CA I made a wonderful friend, Monica, whose sister makes the best carrot cake I had ever tasted. Since moving away from Lucy and her cake of carrot-y goodness I have tried numerous recipes, most of them pitiful replicas that came nowhere near hers. This time I think I may have gotten it.

Carrot Cake

Cake Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

2 cups shredded carrots

1cup vegetable oil

8 oz crushed pineapple, drained well

3/4 cup golden raisins

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch pan.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

4. Add in eggs, carrots, oil, pineapple, raisins and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

5. Pour into pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center come out clean.

6. To make the frosting: cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

7. Cool cake and frost.

8. Eat copious amounts.

Okay a few side notes. As you can see from the above picture I did not use a 9 x 13 inch pan. I used two Wilton mini-bundt pans. Each has 6 baking cups, so I have a total of 12 mini-cakes. I kept the temperature the same but cut my baking time to about 25 minutes. I began checking them after 20 minutes, I had one pan filled with a bit more batter so they of course took slightly longer.

You can definitely add nuts in, 1 cup of walnuts added in with the wet ingredients work well. You can also add in coconut, 1 cup added in with the wet ingredients. Tim hates nuts and I hate coconut, so that's where we stand on that.

Tim thinks mine need more frosting. He prefers the frosting taste in every bite, I am more of a purist and want mostly cake. Either way they are delicious. The cake itself is moist, the raisins give it a slight crunch that the addition of nuts would also give and the pineapple gives it a bit of oomph.

There are currently 4 left in my kitchen and they are calling my name. I think that means I need to go upstairs fast, before my willpower starts lacking. 

Cook-ays! The Finished Product

Unfortunately my youngest assistant came home from school yesterday not feeling so hot. In the game of life she wins and cookies lose, so I decided to finish the cookies up this morning and spend time lounging around the house with her and her sister last night.

I had a bit of trouble with the dough this morning. It was a tab crumbly and uncooperative. I added 1 teaspoon of water to each log and rolled it into submission. Now, when I say rolled I mean with a rolling pin. You can definitely cut straight from the log, but I was feeling the need to work out some aggression. So, rolling pin it was! If you are going to use a rolling pin place your dough between 2 sheets of parchment to avoid having to add any flour to the dough. I used a shot glass as a cookie cutter.

No tequila was opened in the making of these cookies.

I didn't frost the whole batch and I may have eaten a couple along the way. Okay, five six. I have 24 single cookies set aside to be vacuum sealed and shipped to Hawaii. Ashley, you are going to have to add your own filling. Cream cheese and USPS do not mix, sorry.   

Cook-ays! The Recipe

Today is the day! The Second Annual Virtual Cookie Exchange is underway, and as usual I am late to the party. What else is new?

Lemon-Cream Cookie Sandwiches, a Better Homes and Gardens recipe that is much loved in my house.

The cookies

• 1 cup butter-flavor Crisco
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel

1. Beat shortening in a large bowl with an electric mixer for 30 seconds at medium to high speed. Add sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides as you go. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much flour as possible with the mixer, by hand stir in any remaining flour and lemon peel.

I started hand mixing once I had 1 3/4 cups of flour in the bowl.

2. Divide dough in half. Roll each portion into a 10-inch log. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 3 hours, or until firm.

3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unwrap dough rolls. Cut into 1/4-inch-inch slices. Place slices 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cook on cookie sheet on wire rack for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to wire rack and cool completely.

The filling

• 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 2/3 cup butter, softened
• 3 1/3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon peel

4. Beat the softened cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until combined. Stir in lemon peel.

5. Spread about 1 tablespoon of the filling on the bottom of half of the cookies. Top each with remaining cookie, bottom down, to make sandwiches.

6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Makes about 36.

Cookies should be eaten within 3 days if kept at room temperature in an airtight container. Can be frozen for up to 3 months.

While my dough chills while don't you head on over to Jenn's site and check out the other cookie recipes? Will be back with more pictures and the final product once my helpers get home from school.

Cook-ays!

It is almost time for the Second Annual Virtual Cookie Exchange, hosted by Jenn over at Jenn's Journal. The idea is simple, you sign up by leaving a comment on this post then on December 3rd you simply post your recipe on your blog, let Jenn know that you have posted and link to the post that she puts up on the 3rd listing all of the other participants.

Everybody loves cookies and I need some new recipes. So really, you would be doing me a favor if you signed up and posted your own beloved recipes.

You wouldn't be doing my butt any favors but that is another story.

Red Neck

I coerced my mom into babysitting for us last night so that the three of us could go out and have a nice dinner. We wound up at the Melting Pot and had a great time.

Ashley may have had a few drinks...

She started with a Strawberry Basil something or other.

Then she moved onto a Strawberry Drop. I missed getting a picture of her licking the sugar coated rim, but it was very funny.

Then she had some of my Pomegranate Cosmo. The more she drinks the redder her neck gets. It was hilarious.

We had a very good time. We spent hours at the restaurant and came home about 11 to wonderfully sleeping children. We had an amaretto white chocolate fondue for dessert that was awesome, flambeed at the table.

It was our best night out in a very long time. Wish Glen had been able to be with us but I think Ashley channeled his attitude and sense of humor just for that night... it was a treat.

Rice Rice Baby

I had forgotten what meal time is like with a 2 year-old.

Suddenly I remember.

The table after a dinner of rice with teriyaki chicken, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms and sugar snap peas.

The floor.

The chair.

And this is how the moms cope after the kids have gone to bed.

'Ono

There are quite a few things I miss about living in Hawaii. The people, the weather, the beaches, the laid back atmosphere and the food.

Malasadas.

Yum-O!

Malasadas are Portuguese donuts and they are super good. Fried dough, not as sweet as a cake donut but more dense than a bar donut. Rolled in sugar while still hot. Sometimes injected with haupia  (coconut flavored pudding) or custard (chocolate or vanilla).

If you are familiar with Hawaii malasada makers I would say that these are more like Agnes's Portuguese Bakery and less like Leonard's. They have a crunchier crust than Leonard's but are every bit as good. They are also free form, Tim informs me that Leonard's uses a mold in the fryer whereas Agnes's and Cher's are both batter dropped in hot oil.

Tim and I just found a place here in WA that makes malasadas. We visited this morning and scored a half dozen fresh malasadas that were awesome. They don't serve the filled ones (yet), but that is fine by me. I am a malasada purist, Tim likes his filled.

If you are in WA and craving some fried dough may I suggest Cher's Ono Malasadas located at 14624 International Blvd in Tukwila. I think if you go early in the morning she may have some made, we had to wait about 10 minutes (if that) for ours but they were sooo worth it. 

Cher's serves a variety of coffees as well, Hawaiian creations such as mocha coconut and macadamia nut are on the menu. I dislike coconut anything but she had a Milky Way coffee listed that I neglected to see until after I had my mocha in hand. I guess that just means I have to go back.

I would suggest grabbing a handful of napkins. Don't eat them in your car if you don't have access to a Dust-buster type vacuum. Sugar everywhere. Yummmm...