[57/365] One Skillet Pumpkin Cookie Cake

I came across this recipe on foodgawker and was immediately intrigued by the pumpkin.

You really only use one skillet, which is great for the cleanup.

One Skillet Pumpkin Cookie Cake (adapted from Willow Bird Baking)

ingredients:

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) Unsalted Butter
¼ cup Vegetable Oil
¾ cup Granulated Sugar
¼ cup Firmly Packed Light Brown Sugar
1 cup Pureed Pumpkin
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
2 ⅛ cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Salt
2 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Nutmeg
½ tsp Ginger
¼ tsp Allspice
Some Dulce De Leche Or 10-15 Caramels

directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a 10- or 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the vegetable oil, sugars, and vanilla and remove from heat. Let this mixture cool until the pan is no longer hot (about 5 minutes) so you won’t scramble your eggs.

Add both eggs to the butter mixture, whisking them well to combine. Whisk in the pumpkin. Add the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice.

Place dollops of dulce de leche or caramel candies around the surface of the batter. Bake your skillet cookie for 15-25* minutes (dependant on your skillet), or until the edges are getting golden and the center is still soft (a toothpick inserted into the center should come out with some moist crumbs, but no liquid batter). Eat immediately (preferably straight out of the skillet!) with heaps of vanilla ice cream (or a fun caramel flavour).

[54/365] let's eat! - part 2

My other favourite of the night was All Day I Dream About Food's Crispy Rosemary Sriracha Chicken Thighs. I accidentally didn't follow the recipe when I was making the marinade. For some reason, I had  thought I needed 2 tbsp of garlic, so I minced away at the garlic, stirred it in... and then realized that the recipe required 2 cloves. The thighs turned out delicious anyway and when I make it next time, I will definitely add more!

ingredients:

¼ cup Plain Yogurt
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Rosemary
2 Tbsp Sriracha
2 Cloves Garlic (add more if you love garlic!)
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Pepper
4 - 5 large Bone-In, skin-on chicken thighs

directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, Sriracha, garlic, salt and pepper. Place chicken thighs in a large ziploc bag and pour marinade over. Turn bag over several times to coat chicken. Place in refrigerator and let marinate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 375F. Arrange chicken thighs in a single layer in a baking dish or broiler pan. Spread any marinade remaining in the bag over the thighs. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or till the meat reaches 75 degrees celcius. Then broil on high for 4 minutes, until skin is crispy and golden brown.

[54/365] let's eat! - part 1

I was preparing for making this fried ice cream yesterday. It was the end of the meal that I prepared for Mama Bear's birthday, but it was the best part, so I'm going to start off with it first. I've only had deep fried ice cream twice. My first time was at a thai restaurant and it was amazing. The second time was at a Mexican restaurant and it was horrible. The difference was that the first place made it to order and the second place had pre-fried it and put it back in the freezer. The outside was super hard because it was frozen and you could taste the overused oil. 

This recipe was adapted from Simply So Good. I've made just a few minor changes.

ingredients:

1 quart Vanilla Ice Cream, good quality
5 cups Corn Flakes, crushed
1 cup Flaked Coconut
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Milk
2 quarts Oil For Deep Frying

directions:
Make 5 ½-cup scoops of ice cream. Place on a pan or baking sheet lined with waxed paper and freeze for at least one hour.

Meanwhile, in a shallow bowl add crushed corn flakes, coconut and cinnamon. Stir together. Set aside. In another shallow bowl, beat egg and milk together, set aside.

Remove ice cream from the freezer and roll and press the corn flake mixture around the ice cream. Like packing a snowball. Then roll the ice cream ball into the egg mixture then back into the corn flake mixture. This will give you a thicker crust. Return to the freezer for at least one hour or until the ice cream is very hard.

Heat oil in a Dutch oven or heavy pot until the temperature reaches 365 degrees. Remove the ice cream balls from the freezer and carefully drop into the hot oil. Deep fry for only 10-20 seconds. Remove from the oil and place on a paper towel. Serve immediately.

Garnish ideas: honey, caramel sauce, or chocolate sauce; cocoa powder' strawberries (I used caramel sauce, strawberries, and cocoa powder)

Notes: It's super important that you allow time in-between scooping the ice-cream and coating it with the corn flake mixture because you'll just end up with a pile of mush. Another tip is to allow enough time for the coated ice cream balls to harden before frying so that it doesn't all just melt when you fry it. Lastly, the coating burns very quickly so make sure to remove the balls from the oil promptly.

[47/365] sweet tooth

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I saw this recipe because of the corn flakes in it. I've only had corn flakes as a cereal or as a breading, but never in a dessert. Also, when I was thinking truffles, I was thinking more along the lines of a cake like ball like rum balls. These proved to be pretty addictive with their chocolatey goodness and slight crunch. See below for recipe.

 

Nutella Truffles (yield: 2 dozen truffles of approximately 1 inch diameter balls)

Ingredients

8 tbsp nutella

24 mini chocolate chip cookies, crushed 

2.5 cups corn flakes, crushed

2 tsp butter

cocoa powder for rolling


Directions

In a microwave-able glass bowl, take nutella and butter and melt it for 1 and ½ minutes to 2 minutes. Add crushed cookies and corn flakes to it and mix well.

Place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to cool. Make desired sized balls and arrange in grease paper.

Roll in cocoa powder to coat it well.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving.

Adapted recipe from Rak's Kitchen.