help with sugar cookies!!!

I really want to make homemade sugar cookies but haven't been very successful in the past. What is your favorite recipe? Please post if you have a yummy easy one. Does anyone have any tips for me to make perfect sugar cookies??

Sweet and Sour Chicken over Brown Rice

This was in our local paper and is a healthier alternative than the fried version that we love so much (though not quite as good) and we all liked it.

1 diced green pepper
3 green onions, thinly sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 cup pineapple tidbits, drained

In pan with 1/4 cup oil, brown: 2 cups cubed chicken

Remove chicken from pan and saute vegetables for 3 minutes.

In bowl, combine:
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp vinegar
2-3 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt

Stir ingredients to make sure that cornstarch is dissolved. Pour over vegetables and cook and stir until thickened. Add chicken and heat through. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve over rice.

BROWN RICE (Also from paper - worked beautifully and tasted delish! Yeah - I know it's just rice - but seriously...)
This works with both white and brown rice or half and half.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In greased glass 9x13 pan, place:
2 cups rice
4 cups water
1 tsp salt
Cover tightly with foil. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from oven. Fluff and serve. Perfect every time. Note: This works well if you are also baking another item and can all be done together.

Just because it looks so dadgum good.

Today might be the day that I start drinking coffee. And Kahlua. Because this looks mighty tasty. And I'm not sure hot chocolate will cut it anymore after seeing this. Unless one of you geniuses could come up with a way to make a non-coffee, non-alcoholic (but still oh-so-delicious) version of it for me please. That would be great. Oh, don't worry. I probably won't. Unless tomorrow is really bad...

Oh. I. Won't... Really.

Or, will I?

Have I worried anybody yet? Mom? Heather??

No? Anybody?

Okay, I'm done. Goodnight.

Don't try this at home!

Be sure you don't try substituting cherry pie filling for the apples and cranberries with cinnamon, etc. in the Cranberry Crunch recipe in the family cookbook (from Lion House). I had my heart set on it and had no baking apples, so invented the cherry version. All the topping stuff sank! No crispy crunch on the top. (Not that we didn't eat it--we did, and it was full of calories and yummy flavor, just soft.).

Microwave Caramel Popcorn

A friend gave us a Christmas gift and note with a package of popcorn and the dry ingredients in a baggie for this treat. Unfortunately Owen and I ate it up before anyone else got home. Not a recipe for the whole family, unless you only need a taste!

Microwave Caramel Popcorn Recipe #78693

(from recipezaar.com) by Una Rose

1 bag of micro-wave popcorn

1/4 lb margarine or butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup miniature marshmallow

1. Pop the micro-wave popcorn and put in a bowl.
2. Place margarine, brown sugar and marshmallows in microwave proof bowl; microwave for two minutes.
3. Stir well and pour over popcorn.

© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved. http://www.recipezaar.com

Cap'n Crunch French Toast

Jimmy and I saw the Comfort Food episode of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network recently. They spotlighted Baltimore's Blue Moon Café which makes Cap'n Crunch French Toast.

Jimmy thought he'd give it a try. We just did our french toast with eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar and dipped it in the crushed cereal. But here's the recipe if anyone wants to give the fancy version a try.

Cap’n Crunch French Toast
recipe by Melanie Knight- inspired by Blue Moon Café

4 cups Cap’n Crunch original cereal (no Crunch Berries)
10 slices Texas bread (thick sliced bread)
4 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
10 tablespoons butter
Whipped cream for topping
1 pint strawberries
½ pound seedless grapes

Place the cereal in a casserole dish and crunch it into crumbs with the bottom of a glass.

Mix the eggs, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon together and place in a shallow dish. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Take 1 slice of brad, dip both sides in the egg mixture, then coast with the Cap’n Crunch crumbs.

Cook each side 2-3 minutes until light brown. Repeat for the other 9 slices of bread.

Stack 2 French toasts on the center of the plate. Top with a generous helping of whipped cream and strawberries and grapes.

Makes 5 servings

Buckeyes

When one lives in Ohio, there is no choice but to make buckeyes. Plus, peanut butter treats are always a hit at our house (as are peanut butter and jam or honey sandwiches). Ok, on to the recipe.

Buckeye Candy (directly from Nestle.com)

Estimated Times:
Preparation - 10 min | Cooling Time - 1 hrs freezing | Yields - 72 candies (6 dozen total)

The perfect combination of peanut butter and chocolate -- a "chocolate lover's" dream come true....

Source:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups creamy peanut butter, (not all-natural)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, softened
• 3 3/4 cups (16-oz. box) powdered sugar
• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Directions:

LINE baking sheets with wax paper.

BEAT peanut butter and butter in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in powdered sugar until mixture holds together and is moistened. Shape into 1-inch balls; place on prepared baking sheets. Freeze for 1 hour.

MELT morsels and shortening in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute; STIR. Morsels may retain some of their shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until melted.

DIP peanut butter centers into melted chocolate using a toothpick, leaving a small portion of the center uncovered. Shake off excess chocolate and scrape bottom of candy on side of bowl. Return to baking sheets; refrigerate until chocolate is set. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Beefy Cheese Ball

(totally,directly taken from Armour-star.com)

I never thought I would use horseradish! But this is a very nice cheese ball, and I use the low-fat cream cheese and it's softer, but just as yummy, and easier to spread.

Ingredients

• 1 2.25-oz. jar ARMOUR® STAR SLICED DRIED BEEF, rinsed, finely chopped
• 1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp. horseradish
• Assorted crackers

Combine 1/4 cup dried beef, cream cheese, sour cream, Parmesan cheese and horseradish, blending thoroughly. Refrigerate mixture 15 minutes. Form into a ball and roll in remaining dried beef. Chill thoroughly. Serve as an appetizer with crackers.

If you have never used this beef in a jar before, be sure to remember to rinse with very warm water, then drain before chopping and using in recipes.

makes 1 appetizer ball

Easy Oreo Truffles

Easy OREO Truffles

(totally, directly copied from KraftFoods.com)


What You Need!

1 pkg. (1 lb. 2 oz.) OREO Cookies, finely crushed, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

Make It!

MIX 3 cups of the cookie crumbs and the cream cheese until well blended. Shape into 42 (1-inch) balls.

DIP balls in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. (Any leftover melted chocolate can be stored in tightly covered container at room temperature and saved for another use.) Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.

REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Store any leftover truffles in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

Kraft Kitchens Tips
How to Easily Dip Truffles-To easily coat truffles with the melted chocolate, add truffles, in batches, to bowl of melted chocolate. Then use two forks to roll truffles in chocolate until evenly coated. Remove the truffles with forks and allow excess chocolate to drip back into bowl before placing truffles on prepared baking sheet.

Special Extra-Sprinkle truffles with colored sugar or sprinkles in addition to or in place of the cookie crumbs.

How to Soften Cream Cheese-Place completely unwrapped package of cream cheese in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 10 sec. or just until softened. Add 15 sec. for each additional package of cream cheese.

Candy Cane Cookies

I saw this recipe on the Food Network recently. Tonight we tried it out. Abe had fun rolling the dough into ropes/snakes. It was a pretty simple recipe that I didn't even mess up. And that's AMAZING!

Candy Cane Cookies by Sandra Lee

Ingredients

1 box sugar cookie mix
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 egg
1/3 cup softened cream cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for surface
Red food coloring
1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a bowl, combine sugar cookie mix, melted butter, egg, cream cheese, and flour; mix together to form dough.

Separate dough into 2 equal portions and place in 2 different bowls. Add red food coloring gradually to 1 bowl of dough, kneading together until desired shade of red is created. To second bowl of uncolored dough, add peppermint extract and knead together.

On a floured work surface, shape each dough into balls and then roll each ball into 1/4-inch-wide ropes, each about 6 inches long. For each cookie, carefully twist some of the red and white ropes of dough together and shape into a candy cane.

Spread candy canes out on cookie sheets and bake on the top shelf of the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool before serving.

Saltine Toffee

Quick, before holiday cooking is done! Last week Trevor and I made a yummy batch of this--it's a funny version of toffee, maybe less rich, certainly less fine.

1 1/2 packages of saltines (not boxes)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cube butter (or margarine, some recipes say)

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with foil then lightly coat with cooking spray.

Lay out saltines neatly (1-2 packages) with no spaces between.

Bring sugar and butter to a boil while stirring over med-high heat. Quickly pour over saltines, covering as many as possible.

Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for a minute. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, spreading evenly after melting.

Put in fridge for 15 minutes or so to set, then break into pieces.

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits

We usually make biscuits out of Bisquick ... but last night I wanted to try a Buttermilk Biscuit recipe. I found the following recipe on allrecipes.com. I liked their idea to roll it out in the pan and then use a pizza cutter to divide it up before you cook. These were easy to make, turned out great, and were even yummy this morning toasted.

Kentucky Biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 dash salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Cut in 1/2 cup butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in the buttermilk.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead 2 minutes. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet, roll into a 6x6 inch square, and cut into 12 even sections. Do not separate.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center of the square comes out clean. Separate into biscuits, and serve hot.

Tip from a review on allrecipes.com: Freeze the stick of butter and then grate with a box grater. That way the butter stays nice and cold for a nice tender biscuit.

Don't over handle or stir biscuit dough as it will make them tough.

Sour Cream Rolls

I know there are thousands of yummy roll recipes out there, but I wanted to share this one from my friend Lisa Pett. It's so soft because of the sour cream in it. I like it because with my busy schedule right now with a newborn, it is convenient to break up the work ... make the dough at night ... and shape/bake in the morning. It just takes a little planning ahead. I've also done it all the same day - letting it rise 3 hours before shaping and 3 hours after.

Sour Cream Rolls from Lisa Pett

Ingredients:
1 large carton of sour cream (2 cups)
1/4 cup shortening
Heat them together in a little pan, but don't boil.

Place in mixing bowl and stir in:
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, well beaten

Directions:
Take 2 packages of dry, fast rising yeast (2 TBLSP) and dissolve in 1 cup of luke warm water. Then mix with other ingredients in large bowl. Add 7 1/2 cups flour, and knead.

Cover the bowl with aluminum foil and place a dishtowel over it. Place bowl and contents, well covered, in a refrigerator overnight (or in a cold oven for 3 hours) and until the dough has doubled in bulk.

Make rolls and place in roll pans, cover with dishtowel and let raise for about 3-4 hours. ***However, I have made them and let it rise in a semi warm oven to go faster and it works just fine too.

Don't make them too small. If you fold them over, put a little butter between the folds. Bake 9-12 minutes, depending on oven, at 350 degrees. Bake until rolls are light brown--not dark brown.

(tips from lisa:

**I cut the dough into 4 equal parts and then roll it out into a 16 inch circle. Then I use a pizza cutter to cut the circle into 16 even triangles. I roll them up like Crescent rolls and butter them with a melted butter and a pastry brush hot out of the oven.

This dough is an excellent base for cinnamon or orange rolls.)

Pear Crisp

Just wanted to give a shout-out to this Pear Crisp recipe from Pioneer Woman. I made it and it was tasty. As always, go to her site for scrumptious photos of this recipe.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 40 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 4

Ingredients

FILLING INGREDIENTS:
4 whole (to 5) Large Pears (Bosc Work Well)
⅔ cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
_____

Topping Ingredients
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
⅓ cups Sugar
⅓ cups Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
½ cups Pecans, Very Finely Chopped
1 stick Butter, Melted

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel, core, and dice pears. Place into a bowl and stir together with 2/3 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and pecans. Stir together. Drizzle melted butter gradually, stirring with a fork as you go until all combined.

Pour pears into a baking dish; top with crumb topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Place pan on top rack of oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins

Credit for this recipe goes to my sister Amy. She mentioned that she made these (original recipe found in the Nestle cookbook) and shared the recipe with me. I made them today and even the kids loved them.

CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup Sugar
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Milk
1/2 cup Solid pack pumpkin
1/4 cup Melted butter
1 Egg
6 oz Semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup Finely chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 400. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; make a well in the center.

In a small bowl, combine milk, pumpkin, butter and egg; add to well in flour mixture.

Add chocolate chips; stir until dry mixture is moistened. Spoon mixture into greased muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Sprinkle 1 tsp. nuts over each muffin.

Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans, completely cool on racks.

This recipe makes 12.

Stuffed Mushrooms

1 lb large mushrooms, cleaned, remove stems
1 cube butter with garlic powder
8 oz cream cheese
3 chopped green onions
1 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Melt 1 cube of butter and add garlic powder. Mix cream cheese, onions, Parmesan cheese, and cheddar cheese. Stuff mixture into mushroom stem hole. Dip all mushrooms into garlic butter. Bake at 300 for 10-15 minutes. Then broil until brown. (I didn't think I needed the whole cube of butter. Next time I'm going to start with a half a cube and add more if that isn't enough. I had too much left over and hated to waste it. ) Enjoy! They are super yummy.

Caramel Apple Salad

This recipe is from our friends in Chicago, Kathy and Jerry. They took us to our first apple orchard, years ago in Michigan. Fresh picked apples are so yummy!

1- 20 oz. can crushed pineapple
4 c. miniature marshmallows
1/2 c. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
1- 8oz. cool whip (room temp.)
2-3 apples, diced
1 c. salted peanuts

Drain pineapple, save juice. Mix pineapple and marshmallows. In medium saucepan combine:

cornstarch
sugar
egg
vinegar
pineapple juice

Cook until slightly thickened over medium heat; cool and combine with cool whip. FOLD in the marshmallows and pineapple mixture.

Add apples and peanuts. Refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Lemon Rice Pilaf

3 tablespoons butter
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed and minced
2 carrots, pared and shredded
1 1/3 cups uncooked long-grain rice
3 cups chicken broth
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
Melt butter in sauce pan with tight fitting lid.
Add garlic and carrots; cook, stirring frequently until carrots begin to color, about 5 minutes.
Add rice; stir.
Add broth, zest and salt.
Bring to a boil and simmer covered, about 20 minutes.
Fluff rice.

Crispy Chicken Costolleta

Ryan loves the Crispy Chicken Costolleta from the Cheesecake Factory, so I found this copycat recipe that is pretty similar.

Crispy Chicken

4 chicken breasts, cut horizontally, and pounded to about 1/4 inch thick, or use chicken cutlets.
Lemon zest of 2 lemons
1 1/2 cups plain bread crumbs
2 Tablespoons Freshly grated Parmesan (optional)
2 eggs, whisked with 2 T water
3 Tablespoons flour
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Zest two lemons. Bake zest for about 5 minutes until dry. On one paper plate combine flour, pepper and salt. On another paper plate combine eggs and water, whisk until combined. On another paper plate combine dry lemon zest, bread crumbs and cheese. Place pounded chicken in the flour, coating well, followed by the egg mixture and the bread crumbs. Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil and 1 Tablespoon butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Place chicken in pan and cook on each side about 5 minutes until middle is no longer pink. You will need to work in batches, adding more oil and butter as needed. Keep chicken warm in oven at 250 degrees.

Lemon Sauce

2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup plus 1 T fresh lemon juice
1/8 cup chicken stock
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Over medium heat in a fairly large saucepan heat canola oil. Add minced garlic and saute about 3 minutes. Add whipping cream and boil until reduced by one-third. Add Dijon, lemon juice, chicken stock and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted.

Serve chicken with lemon sauce.

Fruit Dip/Topping

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• a handful of Strawberries smashed or pureed (2-3 TBSP)
  
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup whipped topping

Blend together the cream cheese, strawberries, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and whipped topping.