Sunday Morning Inspiration

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ or Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen"

Jude 1:24-25 NAS

Sunday Morning Inspiration

(image courtesy of microsoft office)

This week we all will be sharing the Thanksgiving holiday with those we love and we are reminded to give thanks for all that we have all those we love. I am so very thankful for the wonderful life I have been blessed with and none of it would be possible without God's abundant grace and love for us! Happy Thanksgiving!

Psalm 107:1

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever"

Sunday Morning Inspiration

We had a snowstorm yesterday that left everything icy, flocked and so very beautiful.

Psalm 13:6-7

"But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me"

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Since it is finally getting to be cold outside, something baked sounded great today. Here is my new favorite cupcake recipe. Just a word of warning, they're incredibly delicious but incredibly rich! Share it with a friend!

(Adapted from Annie's Eats Recipe)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Yield:24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 sticks butter, room temperature and preferably unsalted
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
For the filling:
4 tbsp. butter, room temperature and preferably unsalted
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
2½ tsp. vanilla extract
For decoration:
Tiny chocolate chip cookies (I used Chips Ahoy minis)
Mini chocolate chips
Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). In a bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes (You can use a stand mixer or a hand mixer for this). Mix in the eggs adding one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Combine all of the dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and allow them to cool on the counter (or on a wire rack if you have one) until completely cool.
To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.
To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake, a paring knife works great to slice out each section. Place a little ball of the cookie dough mixture inside of the hole you've made.
To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in a bowl until creamy (Again you can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer for this). Mix in the powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth.
Frost the filled cupcakes, I used a large tip and a large pastry bag, but a spatula or knife works just as well! Sprinkle them with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

Enjoy!

Hello Spring!

Okay I know it if officially spring still, however this weekend is going to feel like summer. Highs in the 80's and lots of sunshine. I love this time of year when the days are warm and the nights are just a bit chilly. Flowers are in bloom and everything smells wonderful. Take some time this weekend to enjoy the weather and go buy yourself some flowers!

Basic Chicken Stock

• This Basic Chicken stock is a wonderful addition to any freezer. I keep some on hand as often as I can. It is a really very simple recipe, although it does require a bit of time and preparation. But do not fear! The results are well worth your efforts. A basic chicken stock can be added to a number of dishes, I use it as a base for soups and stews, an addition to pasta dishes, sauces, cooked or uncooked rice. I promise I will post a basic chicken noodle soup recipe very soon and give you a place to start with your lovely chicken stock. You may be asking, can't I simply buy pre-made chicken stock at the store? Yes of course you can! However, I bet that you have the ingredients you need in your kitchen already! And why not? If you have taken the time to make the chicken, why waste any part of that delicious bird?!

Basic Chicken Stock

• 2 Tbl. Olive Oil or Butter
• 1 1/2 to 2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2 large onion, roughly chopped
• 3 large pieces of celery (i use the ends and the leaves), roughly chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, cut horizontally in half
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. parsley
• 3/4 tsp. basil
• 2 bay leaves, broken in half
• 1/2 Tbl. black pepper
• Course Salt to taste
• 1-2 pounds chicken bones, wings, backs, and/or necks
• 6-8 cups water, or enough to cover

Place your chicken bones and remaining pieces into a large stock pot. Add your vegetables to the pot.

* A little tip, I take a piece of cheese cloth and tie up a bundle with all of my herbs and vegetables. It makes it easy to remove at the end of the cooking process. If you do not have cheese cloth at home, you can strain it later!

Add 6-8 cups of water to your stock pot, or enough to cover all of the chicken and vegetables. Turn your burner to high heat and bring to a nice simmer, reduce heat to maintain a simmer and cook for approximately 2 1/2 hours.

It is important that you resist the urge to stir everyone!! Stirring the pot makes a cloudy stock and lets face it, nobody likes that! The less you bother it, the better! At the end of the cooking process I grab a handy-dandy tasting spoon and take a taste. See if your stock it sufficiently salty for your standards. Remember: you can always add salt at any point, but you can't remove it once you've added too much. Think about the dishes you may use it in later and adjust your salt as needed.

Turn your burner off. If you have tied up your vegetables in a cheese cloth, pull them out with a pair of tongs. At this point you can skim off any fat at the top of the stock with a spoon. Now you are ready to strain! Place a large colander or fine mesh sieve over a large pot, measuring cup or bowl. You want to be able to pour, so if you need to strain in batches, please do so. I strain my stock into a large 4 cup measuring bowl with a spout. After straining into the bowl pour the stock into several clean ice cube trays. Place the stock in the freezer and once frozen pop the cubes out into freezer bags and label for later use.

If you do not have ice cube trays handy allow your stock to cool before you strain (chill in an ice water bath in your sink) and pour into freezable plastic containers or freezer bags.

Voila! There you have it, basic chicken stock!

Poulet Roti- Roast Chicken

It seems everyone these days is on the Julia Child bandwagon. I'll admit right up front, I'm one of them! My younger brother bought me "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" for Christmas this year. This wonderful set contains just about everything from the incredibly intimidating to the tastefully simple. My goal is not to cook my way through the book, simply to add a little more french cooking to my life. And lets be honest, who can really say they have too much french cooking in their life?! I figured I'd kick off this blog with a very simple recipe with a few of my own twists.




Roast Chicken

*Recipe adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

-One 3-4 pound, ready-to-cook roasting or frying chicken (Make sure it is thawed!)
-3/4 tsp. salt
-2 Tbl. unsalted butter
-5-6 small baby carrots or one large carrot, sliced
-1/2 of a small onion, sliced
-2 Tbl. unsalted butter (for basting)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Unwrap your chicken and throughly rinse and pat dry. Most original recipes call for the chicken to be trussed at this point, however it is not necessary. I simply bend the wings behind the chicken and cross the legs over one another (if they will not stay, its certainly no big deal and if you have kitchen twine you may tie them together at this point).

In a roasting pan (one large enough to accommodate the chicken), place you chicken. Sprinkle a bit of the salt inside the chicken and place some of the butter inside the chicken as well. Salt the outside of the chicken and rub with the remaining first 2 Tbl. of butter. At this point you may also add some black pepper and any herbs you like to the skin of the chicken. Place inside the oven.



Allow the chicken to brown a bit for the first 15 minutes, then, turn the oven heat down to 350 degrees. At this point your chicken should take approximately 1 hour to an hour and 20 minutes to finish cooking. Continue basting the chicken with your remaining 2 Tbl. of butter throughout the remainder of the cooking process. I recommend a pastry brush for this job.

The chicken is finished cooking when the internal temperature reads 180 degrees (the thermometer should be placed in the thickest tissue of the chicken breast). Remove the chicken from the oven and from the roasting pan. Place on a plate and cover with aluminum foil. If you cut into your delicious looking chicken right now you will be sorry! Let it rest for at least 5 minutes before carving otherwise you will be sorry! This resting time gives the juices a chance to absorb back into the meat and if you cut it immediately after removing it from the oven all of those lovely juices will run out onto your plate.


(image courtesy of finecooking.com)

At this point you may pull out your vegetables to serve along side of the chicken. You may also make a gravy sauce from the remaining drippings in your roasting pan. This can be done simply by placing the roasting pan over medium high heat (if your pan is not suitable for the stove top, carefully transfer the drippings to a saucepan) and adding a half cup of low sodium chicken stock and 1 to 2 Tbl. of flour. Whisk the sauce and simmer until thickened.




Voila your chicken is ready! I served mine along with some roasted garlic mashed potatoes and a very nice Beaujolais wine.

Bon Appetit!