Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies

There appears to be a new favorite cookie recipe in our household of two...taking the award is peanut butter Nutella! That's right, these scrumptious cookies feature a delicious combination of peanut-buttery goodness and chocolatey Nutella hazelnut spread. I am always a sucker for eating raw cookie batter (salmonella dangers, I know, I know!) and the batter for these cookies is no exception. You will probably find yourself eating it by the spoonful, as well as eating the baked cookies by the handful. 

Our tip for cookie control? Leave some out on the counter, but put the rest in a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer. You can take them out and thaw as needed, or if you have an immediate craving, you can eat them straight from the freezer and they don't taste half bad (trust me, I know!).

Original recipe from The Sisters Cafe. 

 

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature

2/3 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 2/3 cup flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup Nutella (can add more according to taste)

Directions:

1. Cream butter, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla together until smooth.

2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and add to butter mixture.

3. Add Nutella in dollops over the top of the dough.  Use a butter knife to swirl the Nutella through the dough.  Do not over mix.  

4. Chill the dough in fridge for 15 minutes before spooning onto cookie sheets.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes, until slightly brown at the edges.  Let cool a few minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Thanksgiving Food Coma

Well, it is the day after Thanksgiving and I am experiencing the usual feeling of a food coma! Stuart and I had an amazing Thanksgiving with both of our families, who traveled to Seattle for the holiday festivities. The day was spent baking pies, mashing potatoes & sweet potatoes, simmering whole cranberry sauce, mixing stuffing, and of course, roasting the turkey! The spread was delicious as always - hands down my favorite meal of the year!

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

This week, I did something I have never done before: baked my very own bread! Bread is arguably my favorite food group, and I have wanted to try and bake my own bread for ages. However, I was always unsure of how to use yeast as an ingredient, and thought that the idea of kneading bread sounded time-consuming and difficult. 

When I shared my concerns with a grad school friend who regularly bakes, she gave me a (very un-scary) package of active dry yeast, and I came across this amazing recipe for making bread in a dutch oven. The only downside is the 12-18 hour rise time, but if you mix up the ingredients in the evening and bake the bread the following afternoon, it feel like to time at all. 

All credit for this recipe goes to Frugal Living NW, which has amazing step-by-step instructions and photos that you should check out NOW.
 
Basic No-Knead Bread


Ingredients:

6 cups bread (recommended) or all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface


1/2 t. instant or active-dry yeast


2 1/2 t. salt


2 2/3 c. cool water

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the water and stir until all the ingredients are well incorporated; the dough should be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest 12-18 hours on the counter at room temperature. When surface of the risen dough has darkened slightly, smells yeasty, and is dotted with bubbles, it is ready.

                  

2. Lightly flour your hands and a work surface. Place dough on work surface and sprinkle with more flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice and, using floured fingers, tuck the dough underneath to form a rough ball.

                   

3. Generously dust a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with enough flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran to prevent the dough from sticking to the towel as it rises; place dough seam side down on the towel and dust with more flour, cornmeal, or wheat bran. Cover with the edges or a second cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours, until it has doubled in size.

                   

4. After about 1 1/2 hours, preheat oven to 425-450 degrees. Place a 6-8 quart heavy covered pot, such as a cast-iron Dutch oven, in the oven as it heats. When the dough has fully risen, carefully remove pot from oven. Remove top towel from dough and slide your hand under the bottom towel; flip the dough over into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough looks unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

                   

5. Cover and bake for 40-50 minutes. Uncover and continue baking about 5-10 more minutes, until a deep chestnut brown. The internal temp of the bread should be around 200 degrees. You can check this with a meat thermometer, if desired. Remove the bread from the pot and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing (wait at least 1 hour or bread will be gummy in texture).

 Sticky and not pretty at this stage, but fortunately that does not matter - the end result will look great!

 Makes quite a large load of bread - perfect for dunking in soup or making sandwiches...we did both!

Olive Oil Tasting Room

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A while back while wandering the waterfront near Pike's Market, I came across the coolest olive oil tasting room. It was just like wine tasting but for olive oils and vinegars - and of course, tasting is absolutely free! Naturally, I had to go back to take pictures and share it with you. The company is located in downtown Seattle and is called Quintessential Gourmet, and they make the most amazing infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

The flavor variety is the best part – you can sample everything from "grapefruit white balsamic vinegar" to "garlic olive oil." My favorites so far are the strawberry balsamic and the blood orange olive oil. The olive oil is great for a unique salad dressing, and the sales girl told me that the flavored balsamic vinegars make a great marinade for meat. Every flavor they sell can be sampled in-store, as pictured below. 

My favorite vinegar: the strawberry balsamic

Garlic: another of my food loves!

Pink Mashed Potatoes

The other day I whipped up these surprisingly PINK mashed potatoes with potatoes purchased at my favorite Ballard Farmers' Market! I thought the unexpected color was too cool not to post a few photos. We had no idea they would turn out this color when we bought them. 

PS: Check out my favorite garlic mashed potatoes recipe from this post

 

 

 They didn't look very pink to start with...

 Adding a few cloves of garlic makes anything better!

Voila - unconventional mashed potatoes!

Chicken Gnocchi Soup

If you are the true lover of a budget meal, then you must be familiar with the chain restaurant Olive Garden and their famous all-you-can-eat soup, salad, and breadstick combination for the mere price of $6.95. I have to admit that this meal was one of my guilty pleasures when we lived in the state of California, and I especially loved the Chicken Gnocchi soup they debuted as one of their several soup offerings. 

Daydreaming about this soup, I found myself looking online for a similar recipe, and tried my hand at one that turned out to be so good!! Best of all, it is somewhat healthy, lasts for days, and is budget-friendly comfort food at it's best. Stuart and I will definitely be making this once a month or so as winter sets in!

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp butter

4 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup flour

1 medium onion, diced

1/2 cup celery, sliced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup carrots, shredded

1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

16 ounce package gnocchi (available in the grocery store pasta section)

1 cup cooked chicken breast, diced (I used Trader Joe’s cooked grilled chicken)

1 quart half and half

2 14-ounce cans chicken broth (for creamier soup, use just one can)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions:

In a large stockpot, sauté the onion, celery and garlic in the butter and olive oil. When the onion is clear, add the flour and form a roux. Stir and cook a minute. Add the half and half.

Meanwhile in another pan, cook the gnocchi. Add the carrots and chicken to the stockpot. Stir often and when it gets thicker, add the chicken broth, gnocchi, spinach and seasonings. Cover and heat through.

(makes approximately 6 servings)

 Yum yum - pass the bread and butter!!