raspberry lemon cupcakes

i am so happy that it is finally starting to warm up in the dc area.  for a while it a really really cold for spring time.   but this past weekend was actually nice and (relatively) sunny.  yippee!!!  so when trying to figure out what kind of cupcake to make for april birthdays, i wanted to make something with bright, spring time flavors.

i decided on raspberry and lemon because citrus and berries just scream spring or summer time.  but i already made a lemon raspberry cupcake before.  remember that one?  it was lemon cupcake with raspberry filling topped with lemon buttercream.  i didn’t want to make the same one as before because that’s, well, boring.

after much thought, you know because this is a serious situation, i came up with this raspberry lemon cupcake.  it’s a simple white cupcake (from a good ol’ box of cake mix), filled with lemon curd, and topped with raspberry swiss meringue buttercream.  oh and i garnished it with a lovely little slice of lemon.

not to toot my own horn, but i loved this cupcake.  i do tend to like fruity cupcakes, over chocolate ones (crazy, i know), so it wasn’t really a surprise that i like it but it was bright and fruity and perfect for spring time and our april birthdays celebration.

happy birthday to our april birthdays!!!

start by making the lemon curd.  i actually used my lime curd recipe just with lemons instead and it ended up working out great and was the perfect amount to fill 24 cupcakes.  store the lemon curd in the refrigerator while you work on the rest of the cupcake components.  then i moved on to the raspberry puree for the raspberry swiss meringue buttercream.  start off with some frozen (or fresh) raspberries and a bit of water in a small saucepan.

cook over medium heat – the raspberries will start to break down.

then allow the raspberries to cook for about 15 more minutes to start reducing the puree/juice.

strain the raspberries with a fine mesh strainer to take out all of the seeds.  this is what you’re left with – about 1/2 cup of raspberry puree.  allow the puree to cool completely (i just put mine in the fridge).

it’s cupcake time.  bake up a batch of white or vanilla cupcakes.  you could make some homemade ones or be lazy like me and use a box cake mix.  don’t hate.

then fill each cupcake with a bit of lemon curd.

ready to frost…

to make the raspberry swiss meringue buttercream, start with the same base as any other swiss meringue buttercream.  for step by step instructions and pictures please visit this post.

then add the raspberry puree that you made earlier.

mix and mix until all of the puree is incorporated – be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  the result is this beautiful pink buttercream.

now that the raspberry buttercream is done, you can frost your cupcakes.  i used a large closed star tip to frost my cupcakes.

then decorate each cupcake with a slice of lemon and they are ready to serve!

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by miki on April 29, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on April 29, 2013

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baked ziti

this baked ziti is most definitely, hands down one of my favorite pasta dishes.  quite a statement right?  but it’s true.  there is just too much to love about this pasta – from all of the cheesiness goodness to the flavorful sausage and fresh basil to the combination of the cream and tomato sauces  and of course you can’t forget the crunchy edges, there is nothing wrong about this baked ziti.

a few months ago, i started doing majority of the week’s cooking on sunday.  i make 2-3 dishes and then we split them up into several servings and we have lunch and dinner ready to go.  although it is a lot of work that day, it makes the rest of the week soooooo much easier.  after a long day at work, walking pua, going to the gym, etc. we don’t have to worry about trying to figure out what to make for dinner or lunch for the next day.  amazing.

i made this baked ziti quite a while ago and i think i need to make it again soon because looking at these pictures is making me crave some more.  it was one of the few dishes i didn’t mind eating multiple times in a week – often we end up freezing the last one or two servings of a dish because chris and i just can’t stand to eat it any longer (this isn’t a terrible thing though, because we have lots of homemade lunches and dinners ready to eat in the freezer).

first mix together the cottage (i used ricotta) cheese, eggs, and some of the parmesan cheese.  set aside.

p.s. grating your own parmesan cheese instead of buying the already grated cheese in the green container (you know which one i’m talking about ;-) ) makes a huge difference!  so if you can, buy a wedge of parmesan cheese and grate your own fresh.  you’ll be glad you did.

then boil up the pasta.  i used medium shells because i didn’t have any ziti on hand.  it worked fine.

now time to make the sausage tomato sauce.  first brown the turkey sweet italian sausage in a medium skillet.

then add the onion and garlic.  cook until the onion is nice and tender and the sausage is fully cooked.

now pour in the diced tomatoes (including the juice), tomato sauce, and oregano.

the sauce needs to simmer for about 10 minutes.  then turn the heat off and add the fresh chopped basil, sugar, salt, and pepper.

the sauce is ready!

moving on to the cream sauce…  add the cream and cornstarch to the pot you cooked the pasta in.  yay for not dirtying up more pots!

mix well then over medium heat, simmer the cream mixture until it’s thickened up a little – approximately 3-4 minutes.  turn off the heat and add some of the sausage tomato sauce, a bit of the cubed mozzarella cheese, and the cottage (or ricotta) cheese mixture.

stir to combine…

and then add the pasta and mix to coat all of the pasta with the creamy tomato sauce.

pour the pasta into a 9×13 baking pan (i split up the pasta into 2 racheal ray’s bubble and brown baking dishes instead).

next pour the remaining tomato sausage sauce over the pasta.

finally sprinkle on the remaining parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

cover the baking dish with foil,

and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.  remove the foil and then bake for another 30 minutes.

although you’ll want to dig right in, allow it to cool for 20 minutes.  then sprinkle the rest of the chopped basil over the baked ziti and serve hot/warm.

for the recipe visit one of my favorite blogs, annie’s eats.

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by miki on April 11, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on April 11, 2013

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giant m&m cookies

when i was younger, i used to love going to safeway (a grocery store) with my mom and dad.  i know most kids don’t really like grocery shopping.  it’s pretty boring and really you just want to go outside and play.  i guess the people at safeway know this because they offer kids an amazing incentive to go with their parents grocery shopping – if you go to their bakery, they will give you a free cookie!

a free cookie!  oh my goodness, best day ever.  ahh the simple joys of childhood.  well actually, let’s be real – even though i am a grown adult getting a free cookie is totally the best thing ever.

these m&m cookies remind me so much of the supermarket bakery style cookies i remember getting from safeway and all of the other fine grocery store bakeries.  they are perfectly crunchy on the edges while still being soft and chewy in the middle.  plus how can you not love all of the rainbow colors and chocolatey goodness that comes with the m&ms.

really you cannot go wrong with these cookies.  plus it’s an awesome base dough for other cookies, like the peanut butter pretzel chocolate chip cookies i made a few weeks ago (recipe from the same blog i got this recipe from – jessica from how sweet is a genius).  just think of all of the other kind of cookies you could make using this same recipe – perhaps substitute the m&ms for reece’s pieces?  chocolate chunks? add in some macadamia nuts? or how about some coconut?  oh man my mind is going crazy with options.

oh but how can i forget the absolute best and most interesting part about making these giant m&m cookies?!?!  instead of just rolling the cookie dough in a pretty little ball and then placing it nicely on your cookie tray, you actually pull the ball apart into two pieces, flip each part around and then stick it back together.

crazy right?  i have no idea why you do this.  perhaps it allows all the pretty m&ms to show off their gorgeous colors or maybe  doing this magically causes the perfect texture of these cookies.  i don’t know what the reason, but it works so there is no need to question it.  just enjoy.

these giant m&m cookies actually start with melted butter.  you can easily melt the butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan on the stove.

  

pour the melted butter into the bowl of your stand mixer and allow the butter to cool a bit.  then add the granulated and brown sugar.

mix the butter and sugars together until they are well combined.

then add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix it all up.

now time for the dry ingredients – just flour and baking soda (oh i did add about 1/4 tsp of salt to help balance out some of the sweetness in the cookie).  the original recipe said to mix the flour and baking soda in another bowl and then add it to the butter/egg/sugar mixture but i’m lazy.

now the cookie dough is ready.

drum roll please… here come the m&m’s – mini m&m’s to be exact.  i totally thought that bags of mini or baking m&m’s were sold in the baking section but i was wrong.  so i just bought a few of these little containers of mini m&m’s.  if you need to do the same thing, here’s a nice tip – there is about 1/4 cup of m&m’s in each of the little tubes.

dump all of the m&m’s into the bowl with the cookie dough…

and then fold the m&m’s into the cookie dough.  be sure to do this with a spatula instead of using the mixer.  this will keep all of the little m&m’s nicely intact.

next take your 1/4 cup cookie scooper and scoop out some cookie dough,

and roll the cookie dough into a ball.

now rip the ball into 2 pieces and then put the smooth edges together and place it on a silpat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  like so…

bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes (mine took the full 15 minutes).  they are going to be lightly browned on the edges but still be soft and actually look not quite done in the middle.

allow them to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completed.  then it’s time to dig into the gloriousness that is this giant m&m cookie.

get the recipe from the absolutely beautiful and super fun blog, how sweet it is.

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by miki on April 9, 2013  •  Permalink
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four cheese ravioli

so remember those salted caramel brownies?  yeah those were good, well on the same day that tammy and i made the brownies we also made four cheese ravioli with a broccoli cream pesto.  boy was it good – it was actually so good that i made the dish again the next weekend.  i just got my ravioli press in the mail so i wanted to try it out.

i love using the ravioli press – you can make so many at once.  12 of them!  yes!  but when tammy and i first made ravioli we didn’t have one.  so i’ll show you both ways.  i also learned some great tips and strategies when using a ravioli press after having too many of them lose their filling while they’re boiling.  i hope they help you when you try your hand at ravioli making.

this four cheese ravioli is super flavorful – it has of course, four different kinds of cheese: ricotta, mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan as well as a few different herbs including basil, oregano, and parsley plus some garlic too.  they are great with this broccoli pesto or marinara sauce.  although they take some work, it’s well worth it once you bite through the fresh, perfectly cooked pasta and then into the flavor packed, gooey cheese.

of course, the ravioli making process starts with fresh pasta.

roll it out according to your past maker’s instructions.  i have the atlast 150 pasta maker and i roll out my dough to the number 5 or 6 setting and found that it was the perfect thickness for ravioli.  you don’t want it too thick because the edges of the ravioli is double the thickness of the dough, so it may get chewy and not cooked thoroughly – and you don’t want it to thin because then it will tear and not have enough give to make room for the filling.

now that your pasta is ready, it’s time to mix up the filling.  combine all of the ingredients (cheese, herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and egg) into a medium bowl.

mix it all up and your ravioli filling is ready.  easy peasy!

now time to assemble the ravioli.  first up, here’s how to make the ravioli if you don’t have a ravioli press.  place the pasta sheet on a floured surface.  then on the bottom half of the sheet, spoon about scoops of 2 teaspoons of filling about an inch apart.  then using your finger or a pastry brush and a small bowl of water, wet the pasta around the filling.  this will help the top half of the sheet of pasta stick to the bottom and seal in the filling.

fold half the pasta sheet over the side with the filling.

carefully press out any air from the filling area, like so.

next using a pastry cutter, cut the filled pasta sheet into raviolis.

place the finished raviolis on a floured baking sheet and allow the pasta to dry for 1 hour.

though this process works fine, i love using my ravioli press.  it’s so much faster and easier.

start by laying a sheet of pasta over the metal part – be sure the side of pasta that is touching the metal is well floured. this will keep the ravioli from sticking to the press which is a real pain in the you know what.

then use the plastic bubble looking part and press bubble side down on to the pasta sheet.  this make little pockets or wells for you to put your filling in.

now brush the pasta, between the wells, with egg wash (egg mixed with a little water).  this will help the pasta sheets stick to one another and seal in the filling.

next fill each well with about 2 teaspoons of the four cheese filling.  i used a small cookie scoop which made it super fast and easy.

see, quick like a bunny.

now place another pasta sheet over the filling and gently press down to seal.

okay so now the instructions says to take a rolling pin and roll over the pasta to make sure the raviolis are well sealed and formed.  so that’s what i did…

looks good right?

but then it was impossible to get the ravioli out of the press.  no matter how hard i banged the press against the counter they refused to get out.  so i pried them out and it was a mess.

so instead, i skipped the rolling pin part and just pressed the top pasta sheet just gently enough so that i knew the ravioli were sealed and the pasta was indented with the zigzag lines.  then i used a pastry cutter to cut the ravioli, following the lines made by the press.

it worked so much better and the ravioli stayed nicely shaped.  yippee!!!

after the ravioli has dried, boil these bad boys up and serve it with your favorite sauce.

i cannot tell you how excited i am to be able to make my own ravioli.  there are so many different kinds that i can’t wait to try!!!!  be on the look out for lots more ravioli filling recipes.  yay!!!

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by miki on March 9, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on March 9, 2013

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shoyu chicken

today we have a snow day!!!  yay!!! i love snow days and because we live in the dc area we actually get a fair amount of snow days/late openings considering we don’t get all that much snow.  the district just is a bit over cautious and tends to freak out even with a couple inches of snow.  but i’m certainly not one to complain.

because now i have some extra time to write a blog post and share with you a recipe for one of my favorite local (hawaii) foods – shoyu chicken.  kind of funny writing about food from a nice sunny warm place since it’s cold and snowing here, but it’s actually the perfect comfort food, so rain or shine this is a great dish to make for you and your family.

shoyu is soy sauce in japanese and in hawaii people frequently refer to soy sauce as shoyu.  so pretty straightforward, this chicken is cooked in a soy sauce or shoyu based sauce – it’s almost like a teriyaki sauce, made with shoyu, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and a touch of rice vinegar.  the chicken thighs (or breast – though i prefer thighs because they have less of a tendency to dry out) are cooked in a slow cooker in this lovely sauce for a few hours.  once the chicken is done, the sauce is slightly thickened with some cornstarch and the chicken is ready to serve is a bowl of steaming rice.  my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

i hope you give this simple, savory recipe a try and get a taste of hawaii.  enjoy!

first, mix all of the sauce ingredients in a medium bowl – it’s just shoyu, brown sugar, minced garlic, grated fresh ginger, and rice vinegar.

then place the boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the bowl of your slow cooker/crockpot.  you could also chicken thighs that still have the bone in and/or skin on it.  whatever you prefer.  chicken breast may work, but i have found it to get too dry.

pour the sauce over the chicken.

there you go…

but now you need to mix the sauce and the chicken to make sure that each piece of chicken is covered in sauce.  this will ensure all of the chicken will absorb the flavor of the sauce.

now cook the chicken on low for 4-5 hours  or on high for 2-2 1/2 hours.

take the chicken out of the pot and slice each piece.

the sauce will have a bit of fat in it, especially if you use chicken thighs.  so carefully skim off as much of the fat as you can.  this is what it looks like pre-fat skimmed.

once you remove the fat, mix the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and then pour the cornstarch mixture into the sauce.

mix and then cook until the sauce is thickened slightly.

put the sliced chicken back into the sauce and stir to coat the chicken with sauce.

serve the shoyu chicken with a sprinkle of chopped green onion.

aloha!

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by miki on March 6, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on March 6, 2013

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buffalo chicken taquitos

a while ago, i made some baked creamy chicken taquitos that were on many, many different blogs.  everyone had rave reviews about them and after i tried them, i definitely understood why.  so when i came across these baked buffalo chicken taquitos on pinterest, i couldn’t wait to whip up a batch.  i mean, come on, taquitos + buffalo chicken = absolute deliciousness!

you all know i love buffalo chicken flavored dishes and i’ve made buffalo quinoa bites (they are especially a-to-the-mazing!) and buffalo chicken wonton already before.  p.s. i make buffalo quinoa bites all the time – they make the best healthy lunch (i’ve actually been leaving out the chicken completely and just making them all quinoa which works out great!).  well, i have no doubt these buffalo chicken taquitos will be added to our lunch rotation.

they are easy to make and actually not too unhealthy considering the alternative – buffalo chicken wings that are fried and stuff.  plus to up the healthiness factor, i used reduced fat cream cheese, low fat mozzarella cheese, added in some celery, and used whole wheat tortillas.

but do not fret, these changes do not affect the taste at all – they are still as delicious and satisfying as ever.

step 1, mix the cream cheese and buffalo sauce (i used frank’s) together.  i made a double batch of these taquitos so don’t be alarmed that the amount of ingredients looks a bit more than what the recipe calls for.

lovely.

then pile on the rest of the ingredients, chicken, celery, mozzarella cheese (i don’t know if you can see it but i used a little cheddar cheese because i didn’t have enough mozzarella cheese), blue cheese, and green onion.

mix everything together and the filling is ready.

now to assemble the taquitos, spoon 2-3 tablespoons (or a bit more depending on the size of your tortilla – mine were a bit bigger than the 8 in ones called for in the recipe, so i added more filling) of the filling together the bottom half of the tortilla.

then roll it up tightly.

ta da!

place the taquito on a baking sheet and continue assembling the rest of the taquitos.

spray the taquitos with cooking spray and then sprinkle some kosher salt onto each one.

bake the taquitos for 17-20 minutes.  i should have baked mine a bit longer – unfortunately, they did not get as golden brown as i had hoped so just keep an eye on yours and if the tortillas aren’t quite crisp enough leave them in the oven for a few more minutes.

ooo look at all of that beautiful ooey gooey buffalo cheesy goodness!

serve the taquitos warm with some celery and carrot sticks.  you could also include some blue cheese dressing, but i found the taquitos to be creamy enough that they didn’t need any dressing.

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by miki on March 5, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on March 5, 2013

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andes mint chocolate cookies

milk and cookies.

peanut butter and jelly.

apples and cinnamon.

they are all perfect flavor pairings just like chocolate and mint.  i love the combination of chocolate and mint together.  i’ve made chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies, chocolate peppermint candy cane cupcakes and thin mint truffles.

i found the recipe for this cookie on two peas and their pod.  they are known for their amazing cookies so i knew i could trust this one.  they did not let me down.  even though i used andes creme de menthe baking chips instead of the mint chips the original recipe called for, they still turned out awesome.

so if you happen to come across these andes baking chips or another brand of mint chips (i remember seeing some hershey’s ones before) i would highly recommend whipping up batch of these mint chocolate cookies.  they are deliciously chocolatey with the perfect amount of mint flavor.  enjoy!

start by combining the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

  

then in the bowl of your stand mixture, blend the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together.

once the butter is nice and fluffy, add the vanilla and combine well.

now add the half the cocoa/flour mixture.

mix and then add the milk and mix until it is incorporated.

now pour in the rest of the cocoa/flour mixture and mix it all up.

finally add the andes baking chips.

the cookie dough needs to chill for a little bit, so stick the bowl into the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

once the dough is chilled, scoop out the cookies and roll into 1 inch balls (about 2 tsp).  place on to a parchment paper or silpat lined baking sheet.

bake the cookies for 14-15 minutes and allow them to cool for about 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

now all that’s left to do is gobble them all up!  (or share if you’re feeling particularly generous ;-) )

please visit two peas and their pod for the recipe and be sure to check out the rest of their wonderful cookie recipes!

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by miki on February 24, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on February 24, 2013

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fresh pasta

for valentine’s day, chris got me this beautiful pasta maker.

oh my goodness was i excited when he gave it to me.  i have wanted a pasta maker for so long.  i originally looked at the kitchen aid attachments but they were just so gosh are expensive.  so i put the idea aside and made pasta by hand.  okay, i only did it once and it was terrible so i never did it again.  but with this amazing contraption, i am finally able to make my own pasta.  yayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!

chris and i tried out the pasta maker for the first time a few weeks ago and made some fettuccine.  it was divine.  so different from dried pasta you buy at the store.  the texture is so light and delicate and just amazing – i don’t know how to describe it.  we served our fettuccine with a homemade roasted garlic and sausage sauce.  yum.

you know what i was most surprised by?  making fresh pasta isn’t as hard as you may think.  if you have a pasta maker it is really pretty easy.  plus it only calls for 2 ingredients!  yes only 2!  just flour and eggs.

so to make the pasta, just pour the flour on to a clean surface (i used an amazing roul’pat – similar to a silpat but made just for rolling out dough.) and form a well in the middle.  then add the eggs to the well.

then scramble the eggs with a fork.

that’s not scrambled!  this is scrambled.

now slowly start incorporating the flour into the scrambled eggs.

keep going until the flour is mixed in.

it will look like a big ol’ shaggy mess.  don’t worry – it’ll be okay.

knead the dough with your hands and magically it starts to form a cohesive ball.

keep kneading the dough until it’s a smooth ball – about 3 more minutes.  once the ball is “elastic and a little sticky” knead 3 more minutes.

then wrap the ball in plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.

now it’s time to make the pasta.  just follow your pasta maker’s instructions and roll out the dough to your desired thickness.  here are some pictures of tammy and i rolling out pasta for our three cheese ravioli (recipe coming soon!)

then you can make any kind of pasta from fettuccine like this (don’t you like our makeshift pasta drying rack?  haha.  i just ordered real one and i can’t wait to use it).

or ravioli like this.

lots more pasta recipes will be coming up.  i know i will be making good use of my pasta maker.  thanks chris!!! <3

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by miki on February 23, 2013  •  Permalink
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salted caramel brownies

tammy and i had another awesome cooking and baking day this past weekend.  i absolutely love when we cook and bake together.  everything just works out much better than if i’m doing it by myself.  go team!

usually it takes us forever to figure out what we are going to make but this time it was surprisingly quick.  tammy found these salted caramel brownies and a broccoli cream pesto both from smitten kitchen.  i was so excited when she suggested that we make these brownies because i also saw them on smitten kitchen recently and wanted a reason to make them.  perfecto!

these brownies are beyond decadent – the rich brownie dotted with delicious ooey gooey caramel.  however, i love that it includes a nice amount of salt in both the brownies and caramel to help ease the sweetness.  still, enjoy one with a big glass of milk and you will be in heaven.

the salted caramel brownies start with the salted caramel.  this is probably the easiest caramel i have ever made and i think it will be my go to recipe.  though, you can’t deny the greatness of this salted vanilla bean caramel or this vanilla bean caramel sauce.  still this one makes the perfect amount and comes together super quickly.  first put some sugar in a medium saucepan over medium high heat…

and allow it to melt, stirring occassionally.

until it’s a nice amber color.

remove the pot from the heat and then add the butter.  be careful it will bubble up quite a bit.

stir until the butter is mostly melted and incorporated and then add the cream and salt.

return the pot to the heat and cook for a few more minutes.

now pour the caramel onto a plate that is lined with parchment paper sprayed with a little cooking spray.

beautiful caramel – side note: on my goodness the caramel smelled so so so good!

then put the plate of caramel into the freezer for 20-30 minutes to firm up.

while the caramel is cooling, make the brownies.  start by melting unsweetened chocolate and butter in a double boiler.

once the butter and chocolate is melted and combined,

take the bowl off the heat and add the sugar…

and the eggs 1 at a time.  next add the vanilla and sugar.  mix until combined.

finally, add the flour.

the brownie batter is now ready.

once the caramel is set cut it into pieces.  tammy and i most definitely snuck in a few taste tests to make sure the caramel was just right ;-)

then stir in the caramel pieces into the brownie batter – but be sure to reserve a few so you can sprinkle them on top.

pour the batter into an 8×8 pan that is lined with parchment paper and sprayed with a little cooking spray.  then top the brownie batter with your reserved caramel pieces.

bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting into squares.  you can speed up the cooling process by putting the brownies in the freezer which is exactly what we did because we couldn’t wait to try them out.  the smell of chocolate and caramel was killing us!  we cut the brownies into 16 squares but they could definitely be smaller because the brownies are quite intense.

time to eat!

please hop on over to smitten kitchen for the recipe.

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by miki on February 21, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by miki on February 21, 2013

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apple pie dip and cinnamon chips

growing up, my family never watched any sports.  well maybe we watched a little college volleyball but that’s about it.  so when i started dating chris, i had no idea what football was about.  but he was an avid patriots fan (don’t hate ;-) ).  he watched football all day on sundays and i would do my homework (i was in grad school).  at first i didn’t pay much attention but slowly but surely i started getting into it.

i asked chris a million questions about what was going on (i’m sure he was sick of me and my questions) and i started playing fantasy football in my office’s league.  this really helped me start understanding more and more about the game.  now i can’t get enough of football and i am a big redskins fan!!!  my poor parents now have to endure hearing me talk about football and it’s especially hard on sundays when i tell them i need to go because the game is about to start or something exciting happened in the game so i need to go watch.  oops!

anyway so how does football related to this apple pie dip and cinnamon chips?  well, i made them for a superbowl party we went to this year.  it was a great addition to all of the other dips and finger food you typically see at superbowl parties, but i loved that it is a lighter, healthier dessert option after all of the usual cheesy, fried food.

start off by making the apple pie dip – it’s super easy.  just some chopped apples, a little brown sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice.

mix it all together and simmer until the mixture is boiling and a bit of the liquid is released from the apples.  remove from the heat.

then combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and pour into the apple mixture.

stir to combine and then return the saucepan to the heat.  cook until the sauce thickens a little bit.  set aside to cool.

now it’s time to make the cinnamon and sugar tortilla chips!  i used whole wheat flour tortillas to make them a wee bit healthier.  first, brush the tortilla with some melted butter.

then mix up the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl…

and sprinkle an even layer on to the tortilla.

now cut the tortilla into chips.  i cut each tortilla into 8 wedges.

place the tortilla wedges on a parchment paper or silpat mat lined baking sheet and bake them at 400 degree F for 6-8 minutes.

once they are baked transfer, them to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely.

repeat until all of the chips are made.  now that the dip is complete and the chips are made put it all together in a lovely serving platter.  i love this dip and chips bowl.

the cinnamon chips and apple dip are a great combination but i have to say, i loved the cinnamon chips on their own.  i may just make the chips from time to time as a great healthy snack. :-)

for the recipe, please visit pennies on a platter.

6 Comments
by miki on February 14, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in baking, cooking
Tagged , , ,

Posted by miki on February 14, 2013

http://heymikiheymiki.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/apple-pie-dip-and-cinnamon-chips/

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