Santa's Mint-Kissed Chocolate Cookies

Mint-kissed Chocolate Cookies

It's Christmas Eve and I have a four-year-old daughter. This is her first year of really understanding and appreciating what it is that Santa does for everyone on Christmas Eve.

Which means this is the first year that I have been able to successfully threaten her with "Santa's watching you."

I understand that these threats may get me on the naughty list.

I'm willing to live with that.

Maybe Santa will accept these mint-kissed chocolate cookies as a bribe to get back on the nice list.

(As a token of our appreciation, she said in her best Wise Guy accent)

If not, more cookies for me!

The cookies don't have mint in them, so you don't HAVE to make them minty, if you're not inclined.

I only wish these Hershey's Mint Truffle Kisses had a green mint swirl in them, just to make the cookies a bit more festive.

But alas. No swirl.

I also wish that I had chilled these cookies right after dropping in the kiss, so we don't have these sad little chocolate mint melty puddle things in the center of the cookie.

I was really going for a jauntier, pointy kiss.

But the sunlight was burning away, and I only like to take photos in natural light, so...

 Melty, sloop-y kisses it is.

Still festive, sloopy kisses and all.

I hope Santa likes them.

Even more, I hope you have a fantastic holiday season.

And if you see Santa before I do....

Put in a good word for me, eh?

Santa's Mint-Kissed Chocolate Cookies

Adapted slightly from allrecipes.com

• 1 cup salted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup baking cocoa
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• 1 bag Hershey's Mint Truffle Chocolate Kisses, unwrapped (including that little white flag; that would be gross to find in your cookie) and chilled in the refrigerator, so they don't smoosh like mine did

Heat oven to 350 degrees. With a hand-mixer, cream the softened butter with the sugar until light in color and fluffy. Beat in one egg at a time, until well incorporated, then mix in vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat together until dough forms. Roll spoon-sized balls of cookie dough in the palms of your hands, and lay evenly spaced on pan-sprayed cookie sheets. Bake each pan separately on the middle rack for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool 1-2 minutes. Place a chilled Mint Truffle kiss in the center of each cookie, pressing slightly. Remove all cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Cross your fingers that Santa won't be easily offended by such an overt bribe. 

Merry Christmas, Emporium!!!

{NTS}

Sauteed fish with Spicy Lemon Cream

Sauteed fish with spicy lemon cream

They say that fish is "brain food."

I'm not 100% sure what that means, but I know that I absolutely loved this dish.

Once I figured out what I was trying to do.

You see, I had this SWAI (a type of river-raised catfish) and could't figure out what to do with it. For one thing, I didn't know what the heck swai was, until I looked it up. 

As  in, I looked it up just now. I didn't know before I ate it. Just now.

It didn't kill me, right?

I almost didn't post this recipe because it was one of those "I'm just gonna add a splash of this, hint of that" kind of cooking days, and those days don't always turn out so well.

I don't really recommend it.

Also, it was the day right after my last law final of the semester and my brain was fried. I was too lazy to even break out the chicken stock to make a proper sauce. But after a few adjustments, the sauce turned out great.

The sauce was so good. But I was too brain-fried to sop it with anything. And I was staring at a giant loaf of French bread, just thinking about how I'd like to sop, if only I could remember how and why am I sitting here again?

Fish: it's brain food.
You need the brain first, though, or it won't work.

Sauteed fish with Spicy Lemon Cream

2 large white fish fillets (I used Swai, but cod, halibut or any other mild flaky fish will do)

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp minced garlic

salt & pepper

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 TBSP Asian Chili paste (I'm also too fried to remember the name of this, but you know what I mean)

splash of heavy cream (or more, depending on how creamy you want the sauce)

Olive oil

Pan-spray a large skillet, set on medium heat and drizzle with olive oil. When hot enough (not smoking black, but nice and hot) add the garlic and fry for a few seconds. Pat the fish dry with paper towels, then season on both sides with salt, pepper, and cumin. Saute the fish in the olive oil for about 7-8 minutes per side. Remove fish from skillet onto a platter. Add lemon juice to the pan, scraping up all the seasoned fish bits and allow the juice to boil for a minute or two. Add the chili paste, stir in completely and lower heat to medium-low. Season again with salt, then add a healthy splash of cream, mix completely. Raise heat again until cream bubbles, then reduce heat and simmer sauce on low. Taste and adjust seasonings. When thickened, pour sauce over the fish. Eat the fish. Stare at the bread on the counter. Check and make sure you're not wearing one navy sock and one black sock. Take a nap.

Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme

Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme

Bacon fried in butter.

Chicken fried in bacon-butter grease.

Yeah. It tastes just like it sounds.

Freakin' mindblowing.

I served this to my study group this week during finals prep.

Now if only Tort Law would stick in my brain the way this butter will stick to my hips.

(Get in there, Torts!)

French food is not scary.

French cuisine is a cooking style, and an understanding of how ingredients work together. That's all. No big.

For cryin' out loud, this is a one-pot dish that only sounds intimidating.

Seriously. It's just bacon-butter-sauteed chicken. Delicious, savory, saucy bacon-butter-sauteed chicken.

Enjoy!

Poulet en Cocotte Bonne Femme
Casserole-roasted Chicken with Bacon and Vegetables
Adapted slightly from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I
by Julia Child

5 bone-in chicken thighs, patted dry
3-4 pats of butter
2 strips of bacon, sliced into 1-inch portions
1 medium onion, quartered
1 carrot and 1 celery stalk, sliced
1 pinch tarragon
pre-cooked potatoes, about 1 cup (I used leftover roasted jewel potatoes, but you can use parboiled baby new potatoes)

Heat oven to 325 degrees.
In a large casserole dish or oven-proof saute pan that has a lid, heat one pat of butter until foaming. Add the bacon and fry for 2-3 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and add onion to brown. Add the celery and carrot, continue to saute in the bacon fat for a few more minutes, remove all veggies. Add another pat of butter to the pan, then add the chicken thighs. Cook one side for 4-5 minutes and turn over; cook for an additional 4 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan, and remove almost all of the grease from the pan. Add the remaining butter (3 pats or so) and reheat until foaming. Add the precooked potatoes, basting the potatoes in the butter. Create a well in the potatoes, add the bacon and veggies on top of the potatoes. Salt and pepper the chicken, then add piece by piece, starting with a piece in the center of the well and adding the chicken on top of the potatoes. Season with tarragon. Cover with aluminum foil, then place the lid on the pan. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until juices run clear. Baste the chicken once or twice while baking.

Holiday Apple Roll

Holiday Apple Roll

Happy Holidays, folks!

I know it's been a few since my last post, but as many of you know, I've been studying for my first year law finals.

And I'm pleased to say that I'm pretty sure I kicked butt on my first final.

Pumpkin roll

Pretty sure, anyway.

So in celebration of the season and my first final, I present to you a baked dessert that I did not screw up.

A non-bakefail, if you will.

(And I know you will!)

It's a pretty straight-forward recipe. You just need patience. And some time. And a steady hand.

And dishtowels. You'll need dishtowels.

Everyone has loved this apple roll. If you make it with pumpkin, just make sure to omit the cooked apples in the filling as well.

Happy baking! Happy Holidays! See you soon!

Holiday Apple Roll

Courtesy of Amy's Grannie McIntyre and adapted from her pumpkin roll recipe

Make the roll:

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

16 oz organic applesauce (or same of canned pumpkin)

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped (or halved) pecans

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

With a mixer, blend the eggs for five minutes. This is absolutely necessary. Beat in sugar, then stir in the applesauce and lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt; fold into apple mixture. Spread on a large greased and floured cookie sheet, top with the pecans. Bake at 475 for 15 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool completely, at least 30-45 minutes. When cool (and I mean, freakin' cool), lay a large dishcloth over the top of the cake. Flip the cookie sheet over (see, that's why it has to be greased and floured and the cake has to be cool!) and lay the the roll flat on the dishtowel. 

Make the filling:

2 peeled and chopped honeycrisp apples (or other sweet and crunchy apples)

2 pats of butter

More pecans, if you like

1/4 cup of sugar 

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

Place a saucepan on medium heat and add the butter, allow to melt and foam. Add the apples, browning slightly. Add the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, mix well into the buttered apples, and allow to cook for about five minutes. Remove from heat.

Make the icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

6 oz of cream cheese, softened

4 tbsp of shortening (the original recipe called for oleo, isn't that hysterical?!)

1/2 tsp vanilla

Blend all ingredients together until well incorporated. Adjust sugar to taste.

Roll that cake!

Spread an even layer of icing over the up-facing side of the cake. Evenly lay the apples and more pecans if you want. Here's the tricky part: Holding one side of the dishtowel, tightly roll the cake into a tube, using the dishtowel to keep the roll tight. Do not roll the towel into the cake, roll the dishtowel like a a hipster hand-rolling a cigarette with organic tobacco. When the roll is tight, wrap with the dishtowel and refrigerate for at least an hour, or until right before you want to serve. Cut the roll into slices. Apple Roll!