Cookie Dough: Chilled and Drop vs. Roll-out

Tis the season for christmas cookies! My family has a long history of my grandma in the kitchen baking hundreds of cookies for our family christmas, and then to freeze for year-round goodness. Our family favorites aren't the typical oatmeal raisin, peanut butter blossoms and candy canes. The family favorites include Pineapple Cookies, Carrot Cookies, Sand Tarts (roll out cookies you can decorate, but not sugar cookies) and Grandpa's Cookies. These are all recipes from the Mennonite Community Cookbook that my grandma used heavily. While I never baked cookies with my grandma (that I know of), I love the feeling that we are carrying on her legacy each year and I am proud to be able to bring a piece of her to our family christmas each year.

This year, I wanted to take on the responsibility to make the cookies for our family christmas. I have made all of the cookies before at my mom's house in past years, but this was the first year to do it on my own. In the first and last batch of cookies, I ran into a question and was encouraged to experiment! 

My first question: Do I let chilled dough come to room temperature before baking?
Answer: No, but it's okay if I do for this cookie.

For this experiment, I made Grandpa's Cookies. The dough of my first batch that I chilled was soft enough to scoop right away after being in the refrigerator for over 12 hours. But I wanted to do some research into whether it would make a big difference. 



To make a long story short, it only made a difference in how fast it browned, but this may have been an operator's error (I never said I was a perfect cook!). The only other difference was noticed in the presentation of the flattened vs. not flattened pan where the flattened cookies looked more uniform and smooth. Take a look for yourself:

First batch (cold)- Left side: natural; Right side: flattened

Last batch (room temp)- Left side: natural; Right side: flattened

I also found this explanation (from King Arthur Flour) of why it is a good idea to chill cookie dough in the first place. In the comments section, a viewer asks a vary similar question, and the author notes that it is better to cook the dough right away so the fat stays cold. 
"Chilling cookie dough before baking solidifies the fat in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less cookies spread." 

In other words, if you don't want your cookies to spread, it's best to cook them right out of the fridge or freezer.

My second question: Can I use a roll-out recipe to make drop cookies instead?
My answer: Yes.

For this experiment, I made Sand Tart cookies. While I am a big fan of decorating cookies, I didn't have any decorating items such as sprinkles or icing. I was hesitant to buy some because I don't have any space to store it. I have a great cookie recipe for roll-outs, but would it still work if I didn't want to decorate them and make them a drop cookie instead? So I took a small bit of dough and instead of rolling them out, used an ice cream scoop to make some drop cookies.

Finished drop cookies

They took over double the amount of time to cook than the rolled-out ones. I actually forgot about them so they got more brown than I wanted. Because they aren't a sugar cookie, they did taste a little bland. They also expanded and ended up mega-cookie size! 
Moral of the experiment: Maybe test them by making a few as the recipe calls for first to see how much they expand and how long they truly take to bake. Then adjust by making smaller than usual drop cookies if they expand and prepare for them to cook longer because they are thicker. 

Finished roll-out cookies

I did end up buying some sprinkles and icing. I used up both tubes of icing which was perfect so I don't have to store them. Here are the delicious final product of the rolled-out cookies just for show.

If you are making cookies for the holidays, have fun with it! Let your creativity show. I hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 
    

Hot Cocoa Gift Bags

I absolutely love the holidays and sharing the holiday spirit with others. While I believe we should be kind and loving every day, it seems extra easy during the holidays because it's everywhere. 
Last year, our first Christmas season together as a married couple, I wanted to show my appreciation to some people who may not hear it a lot, or should hear it more. I wanted to give to people in the apartment office and maintenance, mailman, work managers and our neighbor.

Last year's gift bags before I added ribbon and a tag

I also love hot chocolate during the winter. I have tried many different flavors such as white hot chocolate, peppermint, dark chocolate, marshmallows and no marshmallows. I had run across a Cinnamon Hot Chocolate Mix on the Taste of Home website and had the idea to create little bags to hand out. I had so much fun with this and loved blessing others with the bags. Plus I made some extra for myself and thought it was just as good, if not better than the store bought packets, but way cheaper per serving!

This was such a simple and quick gift to put together. You can get as creative as your heart desires, and make it your own.

It's as simple as mixing the ingredients together. I mixed the marshmallows right in the cocoa mixture, but if you wanted to present it differently, you could leave them out and place them on top of the mixture in the bag as in the picture on the Taste of Home page linked above.

I bought adorable bags and used some ribbon to tie it together. This year I decided to include a candy cane as well.  I also wanted to put a little tag on it to let them know it's a thank you/appreciation for all they do. Last year I made a tag, but lost it when my computer crashed. So this year I had to recreate it. I looked online for ideas of what to write, as I couldn't remember in the least what I wrote last year. I could not find any Christmas/thank you sayings or tags that were appropriate, so I want to give you a FREE downloadable tag in case you are in the same boat.

This year's finished gift bags

I hope you have fun blessing others with this fun and easy gift!
I'd love to hear if you come up with variations of this gift.





Cinnamon Hot Chocolate Mix 
1 3/4 cups nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup powdered nondairy creamer
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup miniature marshmallows
Additional Ingredients: 3/4 cup hot milk

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to 3 months. 

To prepare 1 serving: Dissolve 3 tablespoons of hot chocolate mix in hot milk. 

Yield: about 3 1/2 cups mix (18 servings)

Christmas Wall Tree

Our first year in the apartment, I realized the small apartment was not good for one thing. Christmas decorations. We already had every surface space covered with picture frames, coasters, books, or plants. We had all the decorations up that we wanted, and did not want to drill more holes just for Christmas that would be vacant the rest of the year. 

I've always loved the Christmas tree at my mom's house, because it was something I put thought into while decorating. I even made a ribbon bow (instead of a star or angel on top) in high school that had strips of ribbon cascading down the sides of the tree, making it elegant, but still very home-y. 

In determination to make our place feel at home and in the Christmas spirit, I found a solution to our 'no room for a tree' problem. I saw this website on pinterest, specifically the light tree, and attempted to replicate it. 

This is now our second year using the light tree, and while a 3-D tree is preferable, I couldn't ask for a better alternative. 

I didn't even think about making this a tutorial until after it was already up, but found a creative way to share how I did it for those who don't want to spend the time figuring out how to do it.

For a reference, My tree is 5 feet tall and 3 feet, 5 inches at its widest. 

Christmas Tree Wall tutorial

The hardest part is honestly my perfectionism to make it look not too fat, have straight lines, and fill empty spaces. But that's just a personal problem! 

When I posted my completed project on Facebook, I also heard an idea for families with children. A mother drew a tree outline on a large piece of paper and had the children color in the ornaments! 

So I hope this helps anyone who loves Christmas decorations, but doesn't have the floor space for a tree. 
Note: I can still pull out the drawers to the drawers you see in the picture, I just have to be careful. And presents fit underneath it! 

Cinnamon-Apple Pork Chops

I have only ever cooked with apples 1 other time, and I wasn't thrilled with it, so when my mom wanted to try this recipe (from Taste of Home), I jumped at it. I have to say, I became a fan! The cinnamon and brown sugar combination created a syrup that coated the apples and tasted excellent on the pork chops!

Tip about meat: Something that I have learned in the kitchen is that I don't always have to use the exact type of meat that the recipe calls for. For example, the recipe calls for boneless pork chops. If you prefer bone-in because it has more flavor, or it's more fun or messy, you can use a bone-in pork chop, and vice versa.  This also works with chicken, such as chicken breasts/thighs. Time of cooking the meat might have to be adjusted, but always cook meat until no longer pink. My mom had bone-in pork chops (and a lot of them), so that's what we used.
Personally, I am not a fan of bones. I'm the girl that gets weird about touching a raw turkey or hate to take the meat off a rotisserie chicken. I'm better now, by force I think.

I fully cooked the pork chops, and once I pulled them out, I turned the heat down because grease was spatting everywhere, even on medium heat. I was afraid the apples would burn because no additional liquid was to be added. I kept it at the low heat until the apples released their own juices. Then I turned it back up to medium heat.

One thing the recipe did not mention was how long it took to cook the apples. I cooked them for at least 10 minutes before they were my preferred softness. At this point, I also felt I had to pull it off the heat, because the brown sugar mixture had created a syrup that continued to thicken the longer it was on the heat, and I didn't want it to get any thicker.

If you make a lot of pork chops to have for left-over meals, I would suggest peeling the apples, as the skin on the apples became rubbery after a few days in the fridge. The syrup and pork chops tasted just as delicious, though.

The apples and its saucy-syrup tasted amazing on the pork chops, however I learned for this recipe, boneless is really the best choice. I had to cut the meat off the bone, which meant I had to take off the apples. I think it would have been a lot easier without having to deal with the bone. Perfect example of living and learning!

Cinnamon-Apple Pork Chops
2 Tbsp butter, divided
4 boneless pork loin chops (4 oz. each)
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
4 medium tart apples, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp chopped pecans (I did not use)

1. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add pork chops; cook 4-5 minutes on each side or until a thermometer reads 145°. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

2. Remove chops; keep warm. Add apples, pecans, brown sugar mixture and remaining butter to pan; cook and stir until apples are tender. Serve with chops. 

Yield: 4 servings.

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

My husband and I first had this dessert at college, and thought it was fantastic. So when I started seeing recipes on Pinterest, I had to make it. I didn't try more than one recipe, just because the one that I did find (Strawberry Pretzel Salad) was, in my tastebud's opinion, perfect, so why take that chance? But that's not to say there isn't another recipe that is similar that doesn't taste just as good! The main reason I decided to write about this recipe is because I've already had someone ask me about it who attempted to make it and it did not go so well. I have also made it 2 times within a month, and made some slight alterations. It really is a simple recipe, but has a few steps that could make it go wrong. 

The first step is the most fun, because you get to smash things! The first time I made it, I personally thought I kept the pretzel pieces too big, so this time I smashed them up into smaller pieces. I also added over 2 cups of crushed pretzels (I used a 2 c. glass measuring cup and filled it up just over the top of the cup) because 2 cups did not cover the bottom of the pan very well. 

Tip for smashing things: Don't dirty another dish or clutter your already-tiny counters with more utensils. I used the measuring cup that I was measuring the pretzels with to smash the pretzels in the bag! It's also a great way to release some stress :) 

I stuck the crust into the fridge for a bit to cool off faster while I whipped together the filling. One lesson learned from a friend who made it was to make sure the filling goes all the way to the sides so there is no way the liquid topping can seep down to the pretzels. Guaranteed it will make those pretzels soggy and will not turn out right. 

Both times I made this recipe, I did not have time to wait for the filling to set for 2 hours and do the topping right after. So I let the filling in the fridge overnight or during the entire day, so it was, no question, set. 

For the topping, I loved the idea of a bit of pineapple in this to add liquid juice and a different flavor. 
I did have to spread the strawberries out once it was poured on the filling, because they all clumped together. It really does fill up a 9x13 pan almost to the top. I also made sure it was level while setting in the fridge. The first time, I also tried to put saran wrap on top instead of the plastic lid, thinking the lid would hinder the gelling process. This did not work out well, because the saran wrap immediately was suctioned to the liquid. The second time, I stuck to the plastic lid :)

One lesson I learned the hard way, and luckily it was with the left-overs for my husband and I, was that the topping is not stuck to the filling. So when traveling, I had to tip it for a period of time to fit in my cooler, and all the topping slid off! It was easy to spread back over, but I would be very careful when traveling with it. 

All the topping slid to one side!

FYI: the crust does start to get soggy after 2 or so days, but not a mushy-soggy. I still thought it was absolutely delicious to the very end, 5 days later!

Delicious!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

2 cups crushed pretzels (you want small pieces, but don't pulverize them in a food processor)

3/4 cup melted butter

3 Tbsp + 3/4 cup sugar

1 8-oz pkg cream cheese

1 8-oz container whipped topping

2 3-oz pkg strawberry gelatin dessert mix

2 cups boiling water

2 10-oz pkg frozen strawberries

1 8-oz can crushed pineapple

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. For the crust: Grab a medium bowl, add the pretzels, butter and 3 Tbsp sugar, and mix together. Press this mixture into a 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.

3. For the Filling: In a mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese and 3/4 cup sugar. Fold in the whipped topping, and spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until well chilled.

4. For the Topping: In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in boiling water, and allow to cool slightly. Add the strawberries and pineapple, and pour over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until serving time. 

Chicken-Pasta Skillet

Although I love food, I have a confession. I am not the biggest fan of anything tomato. When I was younger, I didn't like tomatoes, ketchup, marinara sauce, or anything tomato-based. I ate pasta with butter and cheese, and lived on it. As I got older, I started to like it more and more, but still am not a fan of tomato soup or pasta drowned in sauce. So I was a bit hesitant to try this recipe, but the picture did not look too saucy, and it looked like I could actually control how much sauce goes into the meal. So I took a chance.
Let's just say I'm glad I have some intuition in the kitchen! This was a very easy recipe, but it could very easily have gone wrong.

I decided to double the recipe so we would have lots of leftovers. I cooked the chicken, which always takes longer than the recipe says (it took about 10 minutes). I then added green pepper and onion, chopped, just because it would cook faster, and I am not always a fan of strips of floppy onion and peppers unless it's in a fajita. 

 The recipe calls for 2 cups of uncooked pasta (doubled 4 cups), and a whole box of rotini is approximately 6 cups. As with most pasta meals, I added the whole box of pasta, because you can never have too much!

I was skeptical to add the pasta into the meal uncooked, because it takes a lot of liquid to cook pasta, and the recipe had very little liquid in it. But I wanted to go by the books. 

Before adding the additional cup of pasta

I checked the pasta about every 5 minutes while cooking, because I was afraid the liquid would cook away, and I'm glad I did. After about 10 minutes, it started sticking to the bottom of the pan. I then added an additional 1 cup of water, hiked up the temp for a minute to get it boiling again, and then turned it back down to simmer. Even with the extra water, when it was finished, there were some pieces of pasta that were a bit brown from sticking. 

I will say, if I did not lift the lid to check it so often, more liquid might have stayed in, maybe not causing it to stick so fast. But I didn't want to take that chance and ruin the whole pot. It also might have taken a bit more liquid because I added more pasta, but I don't think it should have made that much of a difference. 

Tip for pasta: You could also cook the pasta separately, and then add it to the pan. You would not need to add the water at all, although I would suggest taking a bit of the water from the pasta and put it in the mixture. To quote my favorite talk show host, Rachael Ray, "It’s the magic liquid that marries the sauce to the pasta itself." Once you add the pasta, mix it in, and then add the sauce.

For the sauce, due to my not-so-fondness of it, I did not double it to include 2 jars of marinara sauce, and I am glad I didn't. For some, maybe you would want to, but as you can see, there was plenty of sauce to go around. 

The end result was a delicious chicken, pasta and cheese delight. And the moral of this meal: go with your gut, and don't be afraid to check to make sure it's not burning. 

Chicken-Pasta Skillet
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1 small onion, sliced
1 1/2 cups water
2 cups rotini pasta, uncooked
1 jar (24 oz.) traditional pasta sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Cook and stir chicken in large skilled sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 5 minutes. Add vegetables; cook and stir 5 minutes. Stir in water; bring to a boil.
2. Add pasta; stir until completely covered with water. Cover with lid; simmer on medium-low heat for 15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in sauce.
3. Sprinkle with cheese. Cook covered on low heat for 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted or pasta mixture is heated through, stirring occasionally.  

Glitter Bottle

The glitter bottle/time out bottle is the newest fad in therapies and with moms. I first thought to use it with my music therapy clients, because a lot of my clients are attracted to visual stimuli. In addition, I have a few clients who take breaks throughout the session, and I think it would be much more beneficial to have a timed visual that they can understand so they can tell when the break is over. So I pinned a few pages on Pinterest, and bought the materials. 

I loved this page because another mom described her troubles in hope to prevent her readers from having a mess of a project. Her tips helped a ton, but I had different problems. 

I have currently made 3 different bottles, and none of them are exactly what I wanted. Putting it together couldn't be more simple, but I thought it would be a lot easier to control the time. 

Initially, I used a Smart water bottle, however, I found that for my littlest clients, this bottle would be too big for them to hold. So I found a Sparkling Ice drink that is skinnier, but just as tall. I first filled it 3/4 full of water (just about 2 cups), and then poured the water into a glass measuring cup. The first time I used a 5 cup measuring cup. I found out that because the water was more spread out, it was deceiving as to how fast the glitter falls. So use the tallest glass cup or bowl that you can still easily stir in to get the most accurate timing.

These are the materials I used. 

The blog suggested to use clear tacky glue, glitter color of your choosing, glitter glue (not washable) and hot, almost boiling water. I could not find glitter glue that was not washable. The consequence is seen a bit later. I heated up the water in the measuring cup until it was slightly boiling. I then poured in the glitter glue, mixed it up, and added the glitter. The first two bottles I made ended up being thick with glitter, so for the third bottle, I actually measured the amount, and used 2 tablespoons of glitter. 

For the first two bottles, I then added tacky glue about 1/4 of the bottle at a time, mixed it, and then timed it to see how long it would take for the glitter to settle down. The first time, I used an entire bottle. The second time I used 3/4 of a bottle. Each time, it didn't quite seem long enough. However, it took me until the third bottle to discover that while it is still hot, it will settle faster. When it cools, it just about doubles the time. For my first 2 bottles, it took them 6-8 minutes to settle which is way too long. So the third time I put in only about 1/4 of a bottle. When it was still hot, it only took over 2 minutes to settle. When it was cool, it took just over 5 minutes. 

Once I was done adding glue, I then mixed it up one more time, poured it in the bottle so all the glitter would pour out with the water, put the top back on, and shook it to see how it looked. Again, if it is still hot, it will double the time to settle when it is cool. 

This is the final product, just after I shook it. As you can see, on the top, the suds are a result of the washable glitter glue. It does not hurt it, but it doesn't look as nice. I tried skimming the bubbles off on one of the bottles, but they re-appeared to no avail every time. 

I left the lid off until it was cool, then superglued it on so no little hands could open and make a mess. 

This is about 2.5 minutes when cooled

This is after just over 5 minutes when cooled

 If you try this project, I hope you can get it where you want it faster and easier than I did! 

How Many Potatoes Do I Use?!

One side dish that I have avoided in the past is mashed potatoes. One reason is that there are so many varieties of mashed potatoes that everyone likes, I never know what type to make. My husband loves his mother's sour cream mashed potatoes, my mom makes my grandma's light and fluffy potatoes, and then there's the double baked, casseroles, and just plain baked. So I often just resort to making homemade french fries or only using potatoes in a recipe where they are roasted with other vegetables. 
Then, let's not even get into how to measure how many potatoes to use when a recipe calls for, lets say, 4 cups of mashed potatoes. 

While at my mother's house for the weekend, her recipe called for jambalaya on top of mashed potatoes. So we were determined to figure out how many potatoes it takes to make mashed potatoes, and how many people that would serve. The only way to do that is to measure the pounds of potatoes that we washed and cooked (not the size), and then measure the amount of mashed potatoes it made.

We used 5.87 pounds of small red potatoes (but remember, it shouldn't matter what kind or size of potatoes if we go by pounds). When cooked and mashed, it made exactly 11 cups of mashed potatoes, which is approximately 1 pound of raw potatoes to 2 cups of mashed potatoes. 

What does this mean for how much to make per person? If it's just a side dish at a typical meal, the average person could take between 1/2 and 3/4 cup. This means to serve 2 people at one meal, you would need 1 to 1 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes. Most people make mashed potatoes around thanksgiving to serve to large groups of people. If there will be 10 people at the table, and let's face it, we all take more than 1/2 a cup to eat with our turkey, gravy and corn, I would suggest making approximately 10 cups just to feed each person one time. 

Here's a chart to help you decide how much to make.

Note: I don't know a single person who takes only 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes at any meal. I would say a more realistic serving is 1 cup, so that's what I based the serving size on. Remember, all numbers are approximate. 

Raw potatoes  =  Mashed potatoes  =  Servings 
                                                              (1 cup per person)
1 pound                2 cups                         2 servings
2 pounds               4 cups                        4 servings
5 pounds              10 cups                       10 servings
10 pounds            20 cups                       20 servings   

To give you a visual of how much this is, we put the mashed potatoes in a 2 quart casserole dish. Yes, the potatoes are pink! We used home grown red potatoes that are red all the way through. 

4 cups

8 cups

11 cups

I hope this helps you decide how many potatoes to use and make to feed your family this thanksgiving!

Sausage Tortellini Soup

This was another recipe I made while at my mother's house. I didn't realize it until this meal was complete, but this is a one-dish meal that is easy, delicious, and different! My husband loves sausage, and we have access to some great sausage in the area with a variety of flavors. 
The recipe says to use bulk sausage, which I found out for the first time meant ground meat. 
Embarrassing confession: I just started cooking with sausage this year for my husband (I wasn't a huge fan until now), and had to ask him the first time I cooked it whether or not I was supposed to take the casing off. Every time I've cooked sausage so far, I have only needed to cut it and fry it up, so I have not taken the casing off. Whenever I saw 'bulk sausage' in a recipe, I thought it was suggesting you buy it in bulk (high quantity) and use some of that. Apparently not! So if you only have links, you can just take it out of the casing to make it ground. 

I do suggest cooking this meal in the largest saucepan you have (not a stockpot). My mom's large saucepan is not teflon-lined, so I started with some oil. But even this did not prevent the bottom from getting a little brown. If you want to try to avoid this altogether, you could try cooking the sausage in a separate teflon-lined skillet and then transfer it to a pot.

She had some delicious Italian sausage that I used. Some people like to break their sausage up very fine, but I left them in bigger chunks, so that we could get some good bite-sizes of the good stuff. After the sausage is cooked, I added stewed tomatoes (cut up), beef broth, french onion soup and cabbage. This is a good meal if you have some left-over cabbage. The cabbage cooks down, so if it's a bit older, this is a good recipe to use it up. 

The recipe calls for 9 ounces of refrigerated tortellini. However, I had a 19 ounce frozen bag, and planned to use it all because my husband and I are huge tortellini fans, so you can never have too much. The instructions on the bag of the tortellini stated it should cook in 3 1/2 minutes, but I found it had to cook at least 5 minutes longer once the soup started simmering again. 

I tried the soup before I put on the parmesan cheese, and then added some on top. Honestly, I thought it was better without the cheese, and my mom agreed. Although I didn't try it, I think it would be better with some shredded mozzarella cheese mixed in rather than parmesan. It does give you that italian flavor, if that's what you love.

I think this is a recipe that you could experiment with different flavors of sausage and even add some other veggies such as carrots and peppers to add more color. If you have plain stewed tomatoes, I think it would probably work to add some italian seasoning with the tomatoes to cook in that extra flavor as well. 

Sausage Tortellini Soup
1 pound bulk Italian sausage
2 cups water
2 cups chopped cabbage
1 can (14 1/2 oz) Italian stewed tomatoes, undrained and cut up
1 can (14 1/2 oz) beef broth
1 can (10 1/2 oz) condensed French onion soup
1 package (9 oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. In a large saucepan, cook sausage over medium heat until it is no longer pink; drain. 
2. Stir in the water, cabbage, tomatoes, broth, and soup. Bring to a boil. 
3. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 8 minutes. Stir in tortellini; cook 7-9 minutes longer or until pasta is tender. Sprinkle with cheese. 

Yield: 10 servings (2 1/2 quarts)

Butterscotch Pudding

While I was at my mother's this weekend, I found in her recipe pile a recipe for butterscotch pudding. I have never made pudding before, a bit afraid of the process. But I also have never seen a more simple recipe before. This has all basic ingredients you already have in the kitchen and is not complicated! I only used 1 pot, which is always a bonus!
The only downside is you have to constantly be stirring it. But it does not take too long to cook, so if you have a solid 15 minutes, it can be done.

Because the pudding cooks so fast, I got all of my ingredients ready before I started so I wasn't running around trying to get them together as I was trying to not let it burn to the bottom of the pan.


Tip for egg yolks: An egg separator is one kitchen gadget that I believe is worth its money. It makes for flawless separation, especially if cracking eggs neatly is not a strength. I originally started by cracking them over a bowl, but my egg separator did not fit on the edges. I started to master the one-handed crack, until my mother told me about using a mug! It fits all 6 whites and I didn't have to use 1 hand (although I did like the challenge!).

The recipe is pretty straight-forward. I made sure that there were NO lumps of brown sugar by crushing them with the whisk. The part that took the longest was waiting for it to come to a simmer, because I wanted it to take its time so it didn't stick to the bottom. With the cornstarch, it could very easily get out of control.

This is what it looked like after whisking in all the milk.

I do not have a fine-mesh sieve, and don't even know what it is used for. So, that is another reason I made sure there were no lumps in the first step of mixing.

Not everyone has custard cups. I happen to have a few because I stole them from my mom when I moved out, otherwise I would have none. The custard cups are only useful if you will be serving them for guests within a day, but would take up too much room in my fridge. So I tried using 2 custard cups (to follow the recipe) and the rest went in a glass pyrex bowl (much more practical).

The bigger bowl took just as long to set as the small cups, so if it's just you or you and 1 or 2 people, and you aren't concerned with looking fancy, putting it in a glass bowl to chill works just as well.
It didn't have a very strong butterscotch taste, but did have a vanilla taste, and was the perfect consistency of pudding after letting it set for over 4 hours.
I hope you enjoy!

Butterscotch Pudding
6 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp coarse salt
3 cups milk, divided
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a medium saucepan (off heat), whisk egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, salt, and 1/4 cup milk until completely smooth; very gradually, whisk in remaining 2 3/4 cups milk.
2. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Simmer, whisking constantly, 2 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in butter and vanilla.
3. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl (or spouted measuring cup, for easy pouring). Divide evenly among six 6-ounce ramekins or custard cups. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days. 

Chicken Bundles

My mother first made this recipe a few years ago from a recipe in a magazine (sorry, it's been too long, we don't remember what magazine and no longer have the original). At the time, I thought the recipe was alright, but not my favorite. However, I had written down the recipe, and thought it might be time to pull it back out. It was time for a new and different chicken recipe, so I thought I'd give it a try. It also uses crescents, which is Derek and I's favorite side to any dish, any time.

When living in an apartment, no one has the luxury to more than a small freezer attached to your fridge. That means buying meat as you need it most of the time. For this recipe, it calls for 4 cups of cooked and cubed chicken. Because meat shrinks when it cooks, I had no idea how much chicken this would be, so I guessed and bought 2.75 lbs of chicken breasts. This worked out to almost 5 cups of raw cut chicken, and although I forgot to measure the cooked chicken, it was proportionate to the rest of the ingredients. I cooked the chicken ahead of time, and then cut it into even smaller pieces so the chicken was smaller than bite-size. If you want a smaller meal, you can use less chicken, but then may have too much of the "sauce."

I also recommend cooking the chicken right before you are ready to put it together. If the chicken was cold and put into the recipe, it might not heat up enough in the oven.

This recipe is easy to throw together, beating cream cheese, sour cream, dill, salt and pepper to make the "sauce." Then you stir in the chicken, a little bit of onion and celery. 

 Tip about celery: my husband and I do not regularly eat celery, and we usually end up wasting a full bag if I only need a little bit. So, I found a more cost-effective and less-wasteful way to buy celery. In Wal-mart, you can buy small packages of celery for on-the-go. Each package equals approx. 2 stalks, and even if I don't use them all, its easier to throw a package into a lunch so it doesn't go to waste.

I then unrolled 2 tube of crescent rolls on a baking sheet (I bought large rolls, hoping I could have 1 left over, but I had no such luck!) But I would suggest spraying the pan before you roll them out to try to prevent sticking. I placed the chicken mixture on the crescents, and then placed the third roll on top.

I folded the sides up and pinched and smoothed the seams together. I then brushed with only about half the butter that was called for. Because my husband and I love crescents so much, I skipped the bread crumbs, afraid it would ruin the crescent taste and texture. 

This is a huge recipe, so cutting it was a bit challenging, but it allowed for huge bites of the chicken creamy mixture, and then huge bites of crescent (YUM!) 

The husband did mention this would be a great meal for a large lunch, like maybe a football game meal or brunch. If you are the kind of person that likes cold pizza, this also might be a great cold lunch meal. But I think it's meat-y enough that it works well for dinner with a side of veggies, too.

I have to say it's much more delicious than it was the first time I had it.

I'm so blessed to have a husband who encourages me to try new things, and challenges my comfort level in the kitchen. Otherwise, I'm sure we'd be bored of plain chicken very quickly!

Chicken Bundles

1 pkg. softened cream cheese

1/4 cup sour cream 

1 tsp dill weed

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

4 cups chicken, cooked and cubed

1/4 cup onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped

3 tubes crescent rolls

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Beat cream cheese, sour cream, dill, salt and pepper. tie in chicken, onions and celery. Unroll each tube of crescent rolls and roll out like stromboli, rectangle shape. Fill with chicken mixture. Fold sides up and over chicken and pinch to seal. Brush with butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.