Monday, March 17, 2014

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie

Cocoa found this recipe. These cookies are SUPER labor intensive and just as equally delicious! If you have the time (plus two hours to let the dough chill), energy, and ingredients (a few funky ones), they are guaranteed to be good.

Here is a link to step by step photos, which I highly recommend checking out.

Nutella Stuffed Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies {The Best Cookies in The World}
 
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert, Cookie
Prep time:  
Cook time:  
Total time:  
Nutella is stuffed between a hazelnut brown butter flavor enhanced chocolate chip cookie then sprinkled with sea salt.
Ingredients
  • 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
  • 1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt
  • 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1 jar of Nutella, chilled in refrigerator
  • Coarse sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
  1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
  2. With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all of the chocolate chips.
  3. Chill your dough for 2 hours in the refrigerator, or place in freezer for 30 minutes if you are super eager, although I cannot promise the same results if you do this.
  4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough is chilled measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Place 1 teaspoon of chilled nutella in the middle and fold dough around it; gently roll into a ball — it doesn’t have to be perfectly rolled! Make sure that the nutella is not seeping out of the dough. Add more dough if necessary. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and flatten with your hand VERY gently. (Really only the tops need to be flattened a bit!)
  5. Bake the cookies 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Baked Ziti

1 lb dry ziti pasta (tube-shaped pasta; penne would also work)
1 onion, chopped
1 lb ground beef
2 jars spaghetti sauce
6 oz provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese

Boil ziti until al dente (about 8 minutes)
In large skillet, brown onion and ground beef.  Drain grease then add spaghetti sauce and simmer 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
layer 9x13 pan or 2 8x8 pans like this (listed bottom to top):
1/2 of ziti
provolone
sour cream
1/2 of sauce
remaining ziti
mozzarella
remaining sauce
parmesan cheese

cover and bake for 30 minutes

NOTE: this freezes really well.  The sour cream and provolone are not classic Italian ingredients but they make it super creamy and gooey which I love:)

Chapel Hill Chicken

1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
dash of pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs lemon juice
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups hear-seasoned stuffing mix
1/2 cup melted butter

Combine Worcestershire sauce, sour cream, pepper, salt and lemon juice.
Dip chicken breast into mixture.
Coat in stuffing.
Arrange on lightly greased baking dish or sheet.
Pour melted butter evenly over chicken.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes
Serve with rice and veggies

Note: the coating on this chicken has a nice "zing" to it and is SUPER yummy:)