Party Spirals

Guess who finally got invited to a party??? MEEEEEEE!! ha! See! I told you i would! Lucky for moi, i am still in the party food blogging spirit? Wanna know what i brought? Puffed pastry spirals stuffed with Parmesan, turkey and cayan pepper. mmmm mmmm mmmm!

This picture is one cookie sheet full.  I ended up with 3 cookies sheets full. Just enough for a party!

You will need:
1 box of puffed pastry
1 egg
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
2 tsp cayan pepper.

Preheat oven to 400° F. Beat egg and water until blended, set aside. Unfold pastry on lightly floured surface. Roll into 14x10“ rectangle;cut in half lengthwise. Brush pastry with some of the egg mixture. Sprinkle 3 tbsp. of the cheese and pepper evenly over one of the pastry pieces, cover with turkey slices. Roll up tightly to form a 14” log. Starting at one of the long sides, cut crosswise into 24 slice. Place cut side down on parchment covered baking sheet. Brush with remaining egg mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 12-14 minutes
Enjoy!!!
Smooches - Gigi

Baked spinach and artichoke dip.

Yup. I'm still in party mode. Why the heck not? I had some of my fav friends over last weekend and this dip was a hit! It is courtesy of Paula Deen, so how could it not be awesome? It is super fancy. super. fancy.  Make this. Trust me. You will be the best party thrower everrrrrrrr! And in case you are wondering, this is still considered a baked good as it comes out of the oven ;-)

Ingredients


1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach

2 (13 3/4-ounce) cans artichoke hearts

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

1 cup grated pepper jack cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a casserole dish with nonstick spray.

Thaw the spinach in a microwave oven on high for 5 minutes and squeeze dry. Drain the artichoke hearts and chop them up.

Combine all the ingredients except the jack cheese in a large bowl. Stir well. Scrape into the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle the jack cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with bagel chips.
Enjoy!
Smooches - gigi

Fresh Strawberry Cake!

I'm still on a party theme. I like to bake stuff and feed it to people. Don't judge me.  In fact, call me when you are hungry for something sweet and then come over. And bring wine :)

Speaking of sweets,  I love this cake. It travels really well and makes people smile. I adapted this recipe from Martha Stewart (LOVE) except i tweaked it a bit. See, i love desserts and sweets. No lie. I LOVE DESSERTS AND SWEETS. But! Most recipes call for waaaaaaaay too much sugar. I don't really get down like that. Here is a gigi tip: when using fresh berries or fruit in a recipe, feel free to cut the sugar at least in half. Do this. There is no need to send people into sugar shock. This cake was perfectly moist and sweet and light with just a touch of sugar. Oh and look how pretttttttty it is!!!

go and get:

6 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for cake pan

1 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar (Martha's recipe called for 1 1/2 cups!!! whaaaaaaaaat)

1 tablespoon sugar, for berries

1 large egg

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch cake pan. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.

Put butter and 1/2 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla. (i just use a hand mixer)

Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to buttered cake pan. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over berries.

Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

Greek Orzo Salad

I love parties. I've never made a secret of this love of mine. I love going to parties that have food. I love to bring food to parties. I troll blogs looking for perfect party recipes. Do you? If you do, you are i luck today my friends. This is the PERFECT party recipe. Easy to make, easy to pack up, travels well and is friggin PHENOM! Make this. Trust me. Then have a party and invite me :)

Greek Orzo Salad

1 pound orzo (1 of those little bags about the size of your hand)
2 cups cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 container pitted kalamata olives
1 jar marinated artichokes
1 bottle of Greek dressing.
Juice of 1 lemon

Feel free to tweak the ingredients here. If you don't have fresh tomatoes, use sun dried. If you want to make your own greek dressing, please do (i just don't know how to. yet...)

Boil pasta for 10 minutes until tender. Let it cool off a bit. Then simply toss everything together. Its too easy, i know. But it is so so soooooo good. Please make this and tell me how much you loved it :)
Smooches! - gigi

7 layer bars a.k.a Holy Awesome Bars

My aunt's sister in law (i know), used to make these all the time. I LOVE them. They are sweet and pretty and delicious. When i asked her for the recipe, she simply whipped out a piece of paper and 20 seconds later she had it written down and in my hands. It is THAT easy. The best part is that when you get invited to a party without ample warning to run to the store, i am positive that you will have these ingrediants at home. They are a party saver!!!!!
(sorry about the lame pics, cybelle was "busy"....)

You will need:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick of butter - melted
1 bag of chocolate chips (you can use any flavor you like, or even mix it up!)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 to 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 to 1 cup of shreddedcoconut

Directions:
1. Combine the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs so that that they are nice and moist. Pat the mixture into a 9 x 13 baking dish
2. On top of the graham crackers crust layer the chocolate chips, nuts and coconut
3. Top the entire mixture with the sweetened condensed milk.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or unitl the top is lightly brown at 350 degrees.
Let it cool for at least 1 hour before attempting to cut it up otherwise it will fall apart and they will look stupid and you will be cookie-less. Thumbs down.

Now go find yourself a party and share these! Enjoy!!!
Smooches! gigi
Below here is a picture of lola's behind, she was hiding. Why did i take this picture and post it here? Because she's so darn cute!!!!!!!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Hey all! Its garden season! Which can only mean that it is stupid hot outside and that you can bake anything by simply going into your (or your parents, or your friends etc) garden and picking your main ingredient :)
I tasted chocolate zucchini bread for the first time last year. It was like biting into a huge soft chewy melted chocolate bar. I mean seriously, what could be better than that! And!!! It is healthy! ha!! Check it out cupcakes...make this recipe and then invite me over for a piece ;)

Chocolate Zucchini Bread (adapted from Eating Well)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts - optional (i opted against this step)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cups sugar

3/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted

2 cups grated zucchini, (1 medium)

3/4 cup mini-chocolate chips

Preparation

1.Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat two 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pans with cooking spray.

2.Spread walnuts in a pie pan and bake until fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside to cool. (if using)

3.Whisk all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

4.Whisk eggs, sugar, applesauce, oil, vanilla and melted chocolate in another large bowl until blended. Add to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in zucchini and chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, smoothing the tops.

5.Bake the loaves 45 to 55 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert onto rack and cool completely.
 
This makes 2 loaves and only gets better as it sits so wrap one up and give it to your favs!
smooches! gigi

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

I LOOOOVE coffee cakes, and i love blueberries. After every summer season, i have a freezer packed with frozen blueberries that i failed to use up when they were fresh - which is why recipes like this are perfect! I know it seems like i used a lot of liquid in this recipe, but i made it the first time without the additional 1/3 cup of yogurt and it was super dry, like so dry that it took you a while to swallow. ick. grrrr. Dry + coffee cake = unhappy Gigi. No worries, the extra liquid does the trick.
Now, go blueberry shopping, buy too many, freeze a bunch and make this cake!!!

Streusel -
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Batter -
5 T unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 t pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk
1 3/4 cup flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF and grease a 9-inch spring form pan.

To prepare streusel: In a medium bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter with your pastry blender or fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in walnuts. Set aside.

To prepare batter: Cream the sugar and butter together, then add the eggs, vanilla, buttermilk or yogurt and milk, afterward, slowly add the dry ingredients until everything is included (except blueberries) in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed. Pour batter into prepared pan and scatter blueberries over the top.

Sprinkle streusel mixture evenly over blueberries. Bake for 1 hour (check at 50 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake for 15 minutes in pan on wire rack. Remove side of pan and cool for another hour before serving.

Take a megabite of these chocolate chip cookies.

I know i said last time that i found my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe on my previous post. i lied. i sooo lied. I found this great site http://www.takeamegabite.com/ by a nice young lady named Megan. I asked her for a chocolate chip cookie recipe and she came through. Oh my gosh did she come through. I'm obsessed. I've already eaten 4 and i just took them out of the oven like 2 minutes ago :-/  These are my new favorite. They are the best chocolate chip cookies i have eaten in my life. ever.  Go to her recipe and fall in love.
Here is her website and a link to this recipe:
http://www.takeamegabite.com/?p=3105

I'd write more but i'm currently covered in chocolate... Here is the recipe, which i have changed a bit to suit my liking.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup butter flavored crisco
3/4 cup sugar
3/4  cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
3 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup cholate chunks
(i added hazelnuts to 1/2 the batch...holy yum)

Directions:

1.Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Using a hand mixer cream the butter, crisco and sugars together until fluffy - about 4-5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix until all combined.

2.In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture, in 3 different batches and beat slowely until your ingredients are combined. As always, DO NOT overmix. Stir in the chocolate chips and chunks and nuts if you are using them. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or over night.

3.Place heaping teaspoons of cookie dough a couple inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10-12  minutes or until the  edges are golden and the center is light still, but no longer shiny. Remove cookies from the oven and transfer to a wire rack until cool.
 
I also froze some batter so that i can bake them anytime i want because when you eat them warm, the chocolate ooooozes out. Omg. These are best cookies EVER. Thank you so much for this recipe megan!! go to her site! http://www.takeamegabyte.com/

Melted Butter Cookies hmmm

So, there is this debate about using melted butter vs. creaming butter for your cookies. I'm not going to lie, i have always used the cream butter method - so much so, that i was really quite prejudice against the melted butter method. But, alas, i finally gave in and gave it a shot. What did i find out? WELL! Holy Moley! I LOOOVE chewy cookies. Love them. And lemme tell you, if you want a chewy cookie - melted butter is the way to go. Hands down. No competition. In fact, this is going to be my go to chewy choc chip cookie recipe from now on. I mean? i cannot believe i haven't tried this before! The secret though, is chilling the batter for at least 30 minutes before baking - otherwise you are going to have a mess on your hands.
I used butterscotch chips - which i HATE but, my very  handsome cookie eater loves them, so...needless to say, i was happy to use them. Also, i've seen this recipe a million places but  i've adapted this one from allrecipes.com. Here ya go!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cups butterscotch chips

Directions


1.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.


2.Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.


3. Melt the butter in a heavy stainless steel saucepan.


4. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.


5. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.


6. Drop heaping soup spoons of cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. ( I fit about 6 cookies per sheet) Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
7 .Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Now! If you have too much batter for one baking (which i did), simply arrange dollops onto a cookie sheet, like you would to bake them, stick the cookie sheet in the freezer for 5 minutes. Take them out of the freezer and pack them into a container, separating the layers with parchment paper, and stick them in the freezer. This way, you can have fresh cookies anytime you want! Impressive or what!!!!!!! Ha!
Smooches
gigi

Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip & Chunk Awesomeness. Hell yeah.

I have a favorite blog, besides this one. It is run by a lady named Joy, and she bakes. And her blog brings me great great joy.  Her recipe for Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip cookies brought me joy and a whole Lotta my friends Joy.   In fact, i am fairly certain, these morsels of goodness just wooed me into the heart of a very  very good looking cookie eater. SCORE!!!!!!!!!!! Eat them warm because when you bite into them, chocolate just starts oozing out. OMG. They are insane good. Meet Joy and fall in love with her here: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/  Then bake these. OMG. Do it.

I even gave some to Cybelle so she could take pictures for you because they were so good, i didn't trust anyone but a pro to take the pics so you could see the deliciousness that happened in my kitchen today. Thanks Belles (http://www.cybellecodish.blogspot.com/).

 Here is her recipe which i tweaked a bit, and my changes are in the parenthesis.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened (i used butter flavored crisco so my cookies would be chewier)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups uncooked oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (i totally forgot to add this :-/ )
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (i used 1 cup chocolate chunks, and 1 cup chips)
1 cup chopped pecans

Beat the sugar and butter in the bowl. Beat until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until blended.

(I added a handful of currants to 1/2 of the batch of these cookies. Why? because i had a bunch left from the soda bread i made earlier. And, because I'm a dare devil.)

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Add to the butter and egg mixture slowly beating on low speed until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans last in 3 separate batches. Go ahead and turn off your mixer and do the last mixing with a wooden spoon.

Dollop by heaping soup spoons onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 13 minutes or until they’ve reached your desired doneness. I like mine a little underdone and cook them for 10 minutes.
Wrap them up, give them to your friends, neighbors, family and watch their faces fill with smiles :) And! If you have a hunky cookie eater hanging out with you, go ahead and feed him a few of these bad boys. This was a good day :) Thanks Joy!!!
smooches
gigi

Chocolate Chip Crater Cake

My mom rules. RULES. Every time she sees a really neat baking book, new or used, she buys it for me. I have to tell you, i have got one of the coolest collection of baking books on the planet. No joke. This recipe comes from just one of those books. The book is "Hershey's Fabulous Desserts." The book is so old that it even has a telephone number for you to call or an address for you to write to, in case of questions. Brilliant.
Anyway, this cake is awesome for breakfast. So awesome in fact, that you appear to be the awesome-est person in the world when in less than 35 minutes, you go from nothing to this warm delicious chocolaty cake to serve for breakfast. Try, trust me,  you will rule.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose baking mix
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
and topping mix

Topping Mix Ingredients
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup baking mix
1/4 cup butte or margarine softened (i TOTALLY forgot this. :-/ but it still ruled)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
combine all in a small bowl


Directions:
Heat oven to 350degrees.
Grease an 8 inch square baking pan
In large mixer bowl, combine first 5 ingredients and mix until moistened.

Pour 1/2 of the batter into your baking pan and cover with the chocolate chips. Top with the remaining batter making sure your chocolate chips are covered.
Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Serve warm or completely cooled.
Sit back and enjoy!
Smooches!
gigi

Suzi's herb garlic bread!

I adore my cousin suzi. She's the best. When we were growing up, i used to think we looked like the band Heart because she was blonde and i was a brunette. Well, that and the fact that we were super ultra cool 10 year olds. (She was 10, so i was 8 - you get my drift). And, she makes the BEST bread. She was nice enough to share her delish garlic herb bread with me, and now, i am sharing it with you. It's sooo good. Bake it. Now! :)

Recipe:

Big Big Bread

8 cups (APF) All purpose Flour
2 pkg Rapid Rise Yeast
4 teaspoons salt
4 cups water (110-115 degrees)

Method:
Mix flour, yeast, salt together in a bowl. (use your hands or a whisk)

Pour in almost all the water. (about 3 cups)

Knead the mixture for about 15 minutes adding the rest of the water as needed. When your 15 minutes has elapsed, cover with a dry cloth and put it in the back of your dark closet for 1 hour.

After the hour has elapsed, punch dough down and knead it again for just a couple of minutes.

Shape it into 1 Big big bread or 3 loaves.

Put into desired baking dish and cover it again and allow it to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour again, in your closet. When it is time to bake, gently tuck in the sides. Oil the top with safflower oil or olive oil and sprinkle with garlic and herbs (dried).

Preheat oven to 500.

Gently place the bread in the oven and immediatley turn down the heat to 425 degrees. Do NOT slam the door. (Be loving to your bread, and it will love you right back :)

Bake for 25-25min until it is golden brown.

Invite your neighbors or friends over just as you are taking it out of the oven, and they will think that you are the most amazing person on the planet, like i think Suzi is!
enjoy!
smooches, gigi!