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Peanut Butter and Cocoa Oatmeal Cookie Balls

Apr 29th, 2010 by croasyjr

Peanut Butter and Cocoa Oatmeal Cookie Balls

The second (and last?) installment of a (very short?) series on no-bake desserts.

These peanut butter and cocoa oatmeal cookie balls have a special place in my heart, because they were one of the first desserts I ever made in our Chicago apartment. It was last summer, when Sean had just moved in to our new place and I hadn’t even transitioned yet. It was a time of transition and turmoil…  especially because we hadn’t gotten any of our wedding presents yet. Since we only got married for the presents, living without wedding swag and in such close proximity to each other was extremely taxing, even if it was only for a short time.

After all, until marriage, Sean and I had only dated long-distance… and it had been an extremely rocky relationship. We broke up so many times while we were dating that when we reached our 6 month anniversary last week, it marked the longest we had ever been together (consecutively). As Sean says, each day is a new record :-D Heh, heh.

In any case, sometime last July we found ourselves in a new apartment with two spoons, two unmatched bowls, one saucepan, and a handheld potato masher that we had to return to Sean’s previous roommate when he claimed it the following month. It had been weeks since I had done any real baking or cooking, and my stress levels were rising.

Peanut Butter and Cocoa Oatmeal Cookie Balls

This recipe really saved the day. I mixed these babies up in the saucepan using spoon #2 (the bigger one) and this no-bake dessert could not have been easier or more satisfying. Like the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars, these come together in well under 30 minutes and are really satisfying. Also like the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars, the main flavors are… peanut butter and chocolate. The oats give them crunch and the powdered sugar makes them adorable.

Sean says he likes them because they’re bite-sized. I think he likes the flavor too, but I’m not pushing it. When every day is a new record, you have to pick your battles :-)

Peanut Butter and Cocoa Oatmeal Cookie Balls

No Bake Oatmeal Cookie Balls
Adapted from Taste and Tell, who adapted it from allrecipes.com

  • 2 cups rolled oats
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 3 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

In a large bowl, combine the oats, sugar and cocoa. Dump in the water, vanilla, butter and peanut butter, then use your hands to combine the mixture into a dough. (Really, use your hands. A spoon is a waste of time here).

Wash hands, then roll/press the dough into balls 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Roll balls in confectioners’ sugar until coated, tapping off excess when necessary (go easy on the powdered sugar, or the taste will be too strong).

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Posted in Baked Goods, Recipes | 6 Comments »

Empanadillas

Apr 26th, 2010 by croasyjr

Empanadillas

I can’t believe we are on post 3 out of 4 of our Puerto Rican series, courtesy of my good friend Courtney! I’ll be back later this week with another incredible no-bake dessert recipe, but for now, enjoy our second-to-last Puerto Rican installment!

One of the most common snack foods that you can find in Puerto Rico are fritura, which basically means fried food.  It is everywhere, sold out of stores, little shacks on the beach, tents on the side of the road and trucks in a plaza.  They usually sell sorullos (little cornmeal sticks filled with cheese), empanadillas (a fried dough pocket filled with some sort of meat), alcapurrias (a fried dough made of plantains and other root vegetables filled with meat) and bacalaitos (fried cod fish).  As you can see from this list, one of the favorite cooking methods of Puerto Ricans is frying, almost every typical Puerto Rican dish will either have some part of the main dish fried or a fried side dish, this makes for delicious food, but is not so great for your waist line.  So when I was thinking about making empanadillas, I looked for a baked version, since it is better for our bodies, and the thought of a big pan of hot oil kind of scares me.

Empanadillas are pretty easy to make, and they are versatile because you can make the same dough and use however many different fillings you want.  I chose to make chicken ones and sweet ones filled with white cheese and guava paste.  The recipe I found for the dough is really simple, but you can always go to the freezer section of the grocery store and buy premade dough that is already cut out into perfect little circles for you.  I know that Goya makes them and I hear they are pretty good.

Empanadillas

The chicken recipe I made up myself with some guidance from my co-worker Denise, she is a great cook and we both love food (it is a common topic of discussion among us).  The chicken recipe uses an ingredient called sofrito, which is the base of all Puerto Rican cooking.  It is used in almost all Puerto Rican dishes and many mothers and grandmothers make their own from scratch.  It is a paste made from garlic, cilantro, onion, pepper, and ají dulce (a small sweet pepper).  You can find this in most grocery stores in the jar, which is what I used.

For an improvement note: when making these I did not roll the dough out thin enough, the fillings turned out great, but the dough on the edges was too thick, so when you make yours, make sure to roll out the dough nice and thin into a circle, cause you want to taste more of the filling than the dough.

These empanadillas are great as a snack, appetizer or a meal.  Feel free to experiment and add different fillings, be creative, and you can make yourself your own little unique delicious pocket!  ¡Buen Provecho!

Empanadillas

Empanadillas

To make the dough:

  • 3 cups flour
  • tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 cup olive oil + some extra for coating
  • 1 cup warm water

Sift all dry ingredients together and add to a bowl. Mix oil and water together and add to dry ingredients and mix until dough forms.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into 12-16 pieces then roll into 4 inch circles. Separate each circle with wax paper and store them in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use them.

To make the chicken filling:

  • 1 large chicken breast cut into small pieces
  • 4 tbs adobo
  • ½ onion minced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup sofrito

Coat the chicken with the adobo to season it.  Then add the chicken, onion and sofrito to a hot skillet coated with cooking spray and cook until the chicken is halfway done.  Add the garlic and continue to cook until chicken is done.  Set aside and let cool.

Cheese and Guava filling:

  • Mozzarella cheese (or any other kind of cheese you like)
  • Guava paste

Cut the cheese and guava paste into strips.  The amount of cheese and guava is up to you and depends on how many emapanadillas you are going to make.

To assemble:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Fill each dough circle with about 2 tbs of chicken or about 2 slices each of cheese and guava paste.  Fold the dough over the mixture so that it forms a half moon shape.   Seal the edges by pressing around the curve with a fork.  Place the empanadillas on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.  Brush only the chicken ones with some olive oil to give them a crispy and savory crust.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the dough is light brown and cooked through

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Posted in Appetizers, Main Dish, Recipes | 7 Comments »

No Bake Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars

Apr 23rd, 2010 by croasyjr

Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats

This post has been composing itself (in my head) since Monday — ya’ll might want to buckle your seat belts, because this is one of those rare occasions in which I know exactly what needs to be said here. And I’m sorry to say that the central point of this post will be this phrase, which has been echoing in my mind this week: “You can’t have everything.”

I know, you’re thinking, “how depressing…“. And if life were about having everything we wanted, I guess it would be a depressing thought. But that’s not what life is about, and I’m trying my best not to get too down about the thought that not everything in my life is going to unfold as perfectly as I want it to.

I don’t pretend to be a go-with-the-flow person. I’m not type A… I’m type A+. I’m a perfectionist, which for me means that I like to put everything in my life into categories (marriage, work, hobbies, health, etc.) and to occasionally — OK, constantly — take inventory of the status of each category. I inevitably and energetically hone in on the categories that are looking less-than-perfect, panic about their neglected state, try to hide the evidence from everyone else, and then improve whatever I feel is lacking. I’ll make it better — I’ll make it perfect — or I’ll die trying.

Sometimes, I resign myself to just dying while trying :-D

Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats

I first had the “you can’t have everything” thought earlier this week, when Sean and I stopped to eat dinner at a restaurant on our way home from work. To most of you, this probably isn’t a huge deal, but to me… it felt a little like a failure. We had food at home that I could have made, and it certainly would have been healthier and cheaper to eat in. But it wouldn’t have been faster (not when you calculate in prep and cleaning time) and it would not have been as stress relieving as stopping and eating. And I had a ton to do. The “health” category and the “getting into grad school” categories were suffering badly, and I really needed to get in some working out and studying time.

As we drove home and thought about stopping to eat, I pondered my little categories, trying to decide which one to neglect and which one to nurture. It was like choosing between children. Then the light bulb went on, and I marveled again at the energy I waste cultivating these little pet neuroses upon which I build my identity. It was then I had the aha moment: we can’t have everything. Choosing to spend time working out is going to mean I can’t spend that time cooking (for example), and when time is limited, well… we’re just in a trade-off situation, and the sooner I can accept that, the better.

And, more importantly… it doesn’t matter if some areas of my life aren’t perfect. It doesn’t matter if they all aren’t perfect. It doesn’t matter if they all implode, or explode, or whatever. I’m accepted, I’m covered, I’m loved. That’s why I love Jesus, people. And I’m so grateful, so lucky, that I even have the luxury of thinking about maintaining my health, or my marriage, or my goals. Many people don’t have the time, energy, or resources to do that. I think I’d like to be more grateful, for what I have.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats

All dressed up & ready for the bake sale!

So what does this have to do with the food? Well, these bars (sent to me by a wonderful friend and reader!) are for those times when things may not be going too smoothly. You just don’t have time for that fabulous four-layer cake you had planned. You don’t have time for break-and-bake cookies… you don’t have time to tie your shoes. You’re in a trade-off situation, but you don’t want dessert to suffer.

For this situation, I bring you a Bridezilla Bakes mini-series (ok, two posts…) of no-bake desserts. If you don’t have time to bake — or if your kitchen is like mine, and turns into a burning inferno whenever you turn your oven on in the summer — these bars are an amazing alternative. My friend sent me the recipe because she thought they tasted even more like a peanut butter cup than my peanut butter chocolate chip blondies with dark chocolate ganache, and she was absolutely right. These are the perfect mix of sweet, salty, and chocolatey, and I’d actually take them over the pre-packaged candy any day of the week. And they were so fast to make. It’s almost miraculous, the amazingly delicious results this recipe produces in light of the time and energy it demands!

I’d like to close with a little wisdom from very smart people… the Rolling Stones. This is what I think of when I think about these peanut butter and chocolate treats:

You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find…
You get what you need

Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats

No  Bake Peanut Butter and Chocolate Bars

Adapted from a church cookbook, recipe by Marguerite Lovelace, sent in by Deborah Inman

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • just over 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 lb. powdered sugar
  • 1 (12 oz.) package Hershey’s kisses (I used 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips because I like darker chocolate — worked great, no unwrapping)

Melt butter and mix with peanut butter, graham crackers and powdered sugar.  Press into a buttered 9 X 13-inch pan.  Melt chocolate (in a double boiler or the microwave) and spread over peanut butter mixture.  Slice when firm, then refrigerate.

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Posted in Baked Goods, Recipes | 9 Comments »

Quesitos con Guayaba (Sweet Cheese Pastries with Guayaba Filling)

Apr 19th, 2010 by croasyjr

Quesitos con Guayaba

Welcome to the second installment in our Monday series of Puerto Rican food! But first, I think I owe you all a mini-update from the fantastic Chicago Food Blogger’s Bake Sale for Share our Strength, which was FANTASTIC! I was so honored to work with such amazing bloggers and bakers from all over Chicago… seriously, these women have mad baking skills (and really cute aprons). It’s amazing how much a love of food and baking can bring people together :-) Our goal was to raise $500 — and we raised $885!!

Check out this post from Maris at In Good Taste — she has great pictures as well as a list of the bloggers who were there and links to our recipes! As for the Chocolate and Peanut Butter treats that I taunted you with on Saturday, hang in there — I’ll post that recipe soon!

Aaaaaaand…… here’s Courtney!

In Old San Juan, where I work and live, there is this white van that drives through the streets every afternoon.  The speakers blast with a man’s voice saying, “La gua-guita de los dulces…looossss duuuulllceesss, tenemos quesitos, donas rellenas, mallorca…”  Literally translated it means “the little pastry van, we have cheese pastries, filled doughnuts, sweet bread…” and the list goes on for what they sell in the back of the truck.  However, in my head it translates as “Cooourrrtneeyyy, come and eat my sweet pastries made just for you!”  I seriously feel like a little kid hearing the ice cream truck when I hear that man’s voice over those speakers.  My first instinct is to tell myself, “I NEED a quesito!”  And I have gone out running after him to buy one of these sweet delicious pastries.

Quesitos con Guayaba

Quesitos are a very traditional pastry here and sold pretty much everywhere.  They have them at bakeries, grocery stores and even sell them at Starbucks, Wendy’s, Subway and other fast food restaurants.  It is a simple pastry with a sweet cream cheese filling wrapped in a buttery flaky crust.  On top there is sugar that has been caramelized, so you when you bite into it, it is sweet and crunchy on the outside and flaky, cheesy and soft on the inside.  When looking for a recipe to make these I came across The Noshery’s version, which has the same cream cheese filling but has guava too.  In Puerto Rico guava is a common ingredient used in savory dishes, for example chicken with guava sauce, as well as in desserts.  The easiest way to buy it is in the form of pasta de guayaba (guava paste) which is packaged in a flat tin.  It is in between the consistency of dried fruit and a jelly, and can be used to pair with cheeses (I have done this as an easy dessert, eat slices of the guava paste with slices of white cheese), in savoury dishes and in this quesito recipe!  I have seen guava paste sold at many grocery stores in Chicago, so it should not be hard to find it there, and it is inexpensive, another plus.

Since the recipe from The Noshery recipe didn’t have the crunchy crust I was looking for, I looked around for another recipe that did.  It suggested brushing the outsides with egg whites and sprinkling them with sugar, and it turned out great.  What I liked about making my own quesitos was that I could put in as much cream cheese filling and guava as I wanted.  You know how sometimes when you buy a really good looking filled pastry only to bite into it and find out that really it’s filled with more air than filling?  Well with making your own you can stuff them with cheese and guava to your heart’s desire.  In the case that you can’t find guava paste, or you just don’t like guava, I am sure you can swap it out for your favorite jam and it will taste just as delicious.

These little pastries are really easy and quick to make and are something different from your everyday American dessert with the guava paste.  I took them to work with me the next day to share, and by the end of the day they were all gone and I got a lot of compliments.  So if the Puerto Ricans I work with loved them, then you will too! ¡Buen Provecho! (Bon Appétit)

Quesitos con Guayaba

Quesitos con Guayaba

  • 2 puff pastry sheets, thawed
  • ½ tin guava paste cut into small pieces
  • 12 oz cream cheese, softened
  • ¾ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 egg white
  • Sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

To make the filling, whip together the cream cheese and the powdered sugar until smooth.

Roll out the pastry sheets on a floured surface and cut them into 4 x 4 in squares (you really can make them as big or little as you want.  Jumbo quesito anyone?)

Spread about 2 Tbs of cream cheese filling diagonally on each square.  Top with about 1 Tbs of diced guava paste.

Wet the edges of the puff pastry and wrap the two corners without the filling near them around the filling, like little sweet burrito, and pinch it shut.  Place the pastries on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Brush the pastries with the egg white and then sprinkle them with sugar.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until puffy and golden brown.  Keep a good eye on them though, as they can brown up and burn quickly.

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Chicago Food Blogger’s Bake Sale

Apr 17th, 2010 by croasyjr

Chocolate Peanut Butter Treats

You want some of this?

Come to Smash Cake Bakery in Lincoln Park TODAY from 12pm-3pm. Buy fantastic baked goods for a good cause. Food bloggers and their friends and families from all over the country are participating! See YOU there!

Smash Cake Bakery
2961 N. Lincoln Avenue, at Wellington Street

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

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