Peanut Butter-Stuffed Milk Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

This was a recipe I tore out of an old Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine, so it's gotta be good!  I'm making these for Thanksgiving because my grandpa loooooves peanut butter and my husband looooooves chocolate.  It's a twofer.

You just need the usual cooking suspects.  I'll buy the generic brand of almost every ingredient I need, including spices (which some would say is very bad, for lack of a better word).  But I draw the line at vanilla.  Buy the good stuff.  I like Red Rooster Mexican vanilla (pictured), available at any fine grocer's establishment.

You'll need three bowls for this recipe.  Yes, it's a pain.  But it's true.  Although I suppose you could cheat and not mix the flour in the small bowl...

In your largest bowl, put 1/2 c. white sugar, two room-temperature eggs, and 1 tsp. vanilla.

Using your hand mixer, beat on high until thickened and fluffy, about five minutes.  You won't believe the transformation.  And you'll be so glad you don't have to do it by hand.

From this:



To this:

Then, put your 2 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips in a bowl with 2 Tbsp. room-temperature butter.  Microwave until partly melted.

Stir gently to finish melting it all together.  Delicious if you want to taste just a tiny bit...

Put your chocolate mixture into your egg/sugar mixture.

Mix on medium until well blended.

Then add (theoretically, you would first put the following ingredients in their own small bowl and whisk them together!) 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. flour, 1 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Mix until well blended; stick the batter in the fridge so it's easy to scoop onto your baking sheets.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (important!  don't skip the parchment paper!  it will keep the cookies from sticking!) and drop dough onto sheets - 12 drops per sheet.

It's a thick batter, almost fudgy.  And delicious, too, though it's not recommended you eat it because it has raw eggs.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes, turning baking sheet halfway through cooking time.  When mine were done, I gently lifted the parchment paper from the baking sheet, and then started removing the cookies.

Yummmmm... but I can't eat any because then I won't have enough for the fam....  Oh the sacrifice!

Now you can start mixing your peanut butter stuffing.  I messed up this step.  You're supposed to blend together the butter and peanut butter, then add the powdered sugar.  But I got all excited about sifting...

And I have to say, it worked anyway.  Doesn't that look pretty?

Then blend on high until light and fluffy.  PS, I'd do this in your largest bowl, too, since powdered sugar likes to drift up!

Wait until your milk chocolate cookies are completely cooled, then frost them.

Perfection.

Cheddar and Green Chili Cheese Ball

This is the first recipe I tackled in my Thanksgiving preparations.  This decision was based on careful study of my recipes.  I did this because on Sunday, I didn't read them well at all and faced near-disaster before our church potluck.  Not the time you want to present a failed dish, not when friends are asking "which one's yours?"

This is a pretty typical cheese ball, based on what I know of cheese balls.  Go for this one if you love cheddar, I guess.  Here's what you need:

Your weapon of choice for this recipe is the food processor.  This recipe is so easy!

Put the following into the food processor:  2 tablespoons butter, 2 cups shredded cheddar, 8 ounces cream cheese (I'd recommend softening it a bit first; you will see why later), 1/8 tsp. onion powder and 1/8 tsp. garlic powder.

Process until it's all mixed together well.  Here's where I ran into a small snag and had to do some work with the wooden spoon.  My cheese mixture started to form a ball in the food processor.  Not what you want to happen!

Cooking is often not simple for me.  Yet I love it anyway.  In much the same way, I love tennis, Scrabble and Acquire, yet never win them.  I haven't delved too deeply into the psychology of this.

Anyway, finish processing until you've got a smooth cheese mixture.  Then, transfer it to a bowl that you can chill it in.

Add one 4 ounce can diced green chilies, juice and all.  The original recipe only called for 2/3 of a 4-oz can, which I don't like.  So I used to whole can.

Stir together to mix well.  It's easier than it looks.

Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge to chill for an hour.  It looks kind of disgusting now, but that's why we'll roll it in Doritos and cilantro!

You'll need 1/2 cup of Doritos, crushed, and 1 Tablespoon of chopped cilantro.

Overkill?  Perhaps.

Effective?  Definitely.

Now here comes the tricky part.  I'm just killing time, looking for a way to do this without getting my hands really, really dirty.

It's not possible.  I'm goin' in.  Form the still gross- looking cheese mixture into a ball or log or square, whatever your little heart desires. Then set it in the chips/cilantro mix.



Although this small round dish looked nice for the picture, it did make really rolling the cheese ball difficult.  I'd suggest using something without sides.

And here is your final product, the Cheddar and Green Chili Cheese Ball...

To store it and travel with it, get a properly-sized plastic container.  Put wax paper on the lid, put the cheese ball on the wax paper, and top it with what is usually the bottom of the container.  A picture is worth a thousand words in this instance.

This way you can arrive at the party or the meal or wherever you're going, and re-plate this gorgeous cheese ball on a platter more befitting its deliciousness.

The Day Before Thanksgiving: Preparations

I'm that slightly nutty person who really enjoys the crazy hours of preparation before a holiday.  This could be explained for a couple reasons.

1.  I don't have kids yet.

2.  The holiday festivities aren't taking place at my house.

Regardless, I took the day off work and am preparing as if it were my last Thanksgiving.  Being held at my house.  Although it's not.

I'm washing sheets, cleaning bathrooms, making food...  The cleaning is really being done because it's long past due, if I'm being honest here.

And tonight J and I are going to decorate our Christmas tree!  Talk about holiday jumping.

On my recipe list (because I'm not, definitely not, going to show you before-and-after pictures of my bathroom floors or toilets.

Cranberry Salsa.  And it better be good.  You know I've been anticipating this for at least a week.

Cheddar and Green Chili Cheese Ball.  I know this is good.  Cheddar, green chilies, Doritos, what's not to love?

Dippy Dip.  Family recipe.  It's a hit.  And it makes raw veggies very alluring.

Peanut Butter-Stuffed Milk Chocolate Sandwich Cookies.  Might have to rename those.  New recipe!

Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake.  New recipe!  Labor intensive, but it looks like it will be worth it.

Wish me luck.