Tag: food

Easy Homemade Pretzels

Makes 4 large pretzels.

INGREDIENTS

  • 3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
  • 1 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbs melted butter, salted

Please note: Will also need water and baking soda mixture to boil pretzels prior to baking and an egg wash + kosher salt for that perfect pretzel crust.

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Whisk together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Allow to bloom for 10 minutes. Mixture should be foamy.
  • In a stand mixture, add your flour, salt, melted butter, and wet mixture. Kneed for 10 minutes.
  • Kneed a few minutes by hand before adding dough ball to greased bowl.
  • Cover dough with towel and allow to rest for one hour.
  • Once rested, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface before dividing into four pieces.
  • Roll out into a noodle shape before shaping into pretzel. Grab the ends, cross x 2, and flip towards you.
  • Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
  • Boil water with baking soda.
  • Place each pretzel into boiling water — one at a time — for about 30 seconds.
  • Place boiled pretzels on a parchment lined baking tray.
  • Brush each pretzel with an egg wash and sprinkle generously with kosher salt.
  • Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes until brown and crispy.
  • Enjoy with your favorite cheese sauce or mustard.

NOTES

Original recipe was found on TikTok via user Revi (@reviskitchenn).

You can also just roll out as usual, and then instead of twisting into pretzel shape, divide roped dough into small pretzel bites before continuing the process. These would make amazing pretzel bites!

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Peanut Butter Buttons (Also: Peanut Butter Blossoms)

Original recipe can be found here: Peanut Butter Blossoms – Preppy Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

  • ¾ cup creamy peanut butter (188g)
  • ½ cup unsalted butter softened (113g)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar plus more for rolling (100g)
  • ½ cup packed light brown sugar (110g)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour (180g)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 36 Hersey’s chocolate kisses unwrapped (or miniature Reese’s PB cups for Peanut Butter Blossoms – see notes)

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the peanut butter, unsalted butter, sugars and salt. Cream together by beating on medium speed until well combined. Add the egg and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Scrape down the bowl. Add the flour and baking soda and beat on low speed just until combined.
  • Scoop the dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Coat in additional granulated sugar if desired. Place on a prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
  • Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cookies look puffy and cracked and the bottom just start to turn brown. Immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie. (The cookies will crack and that’s okay!) Allow the cookies to cool completely on the pan, until the chocolate is set. Serve or store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

NOTES

When making Peanut Butter Buttons, I like to press the tip of the Hershey Kiss into the cookie once slightly melted. This helps with stacking for storage. And while sprinkles are always a favorite for special occasions, my favorites will also be rolled in turbinado sugar instead.

And while I use this recipe primarily to make Peanut Butter Buttons, I also use the base recipe to make Peanut Butter Blossoms. For Blossoms, I press the prepared dough into mini muffin tins and bake about 10 minutes, until edges are lightly golden but still soft and gooey in center. Once out of the oven, I press unwrapped miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups into the center of each cookie while still warm. Once cookies are cooled slightly and set, I remove the cookies from the muffin tins and allow to cool on a cooling rack. No matter which way you prepare this dough, it’s the perfect amount of peanutty sweetness!

Please visit the original recipe via the link provided at the top of the page or watch the video embedded below for additional information about this amazing recipe.

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Mexican Sprinkle Cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2.25 cups all-purpose flour
  • Sprinkles for the occasion

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Cream butter and sugars together in mixer.
  • Add salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix just to combine.
  • Add in your egg and vanilla. Mix just to combine.
  • Add in flour and mix in until combined.
  • Form dough balls and then chill dough in the fridge for at least 5 minutes.
  • Roll dough balls in sprinkles and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  • Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

NOTES

This recipe was discovered via TikTok. The original creator who shared this recipe is C’s Kitchen.

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Snowball Cookies

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)
  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 0.5 tsp almond extra
  • 2.25 cups all-purpose flour
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 to 3/4 cups chopped pecans
  • Additional powdered sugar to coat cookies (about 1 cup)

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Whip together butter and powdered sugar until light and creamy.
  • Add vanilla and almond extracts to creamed mixture.
  • In another bowl, sift together your dry ingredients: AP flour, salt, cornstarch
  • Add your dry to your creamed ingredients in 3 parts.
  • Fold in your nuts.
  • Put combined dough into fridge for about 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Once dough is chilled, use a small cookie scoop to place cookie dough balls onto 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Allow at least an inch between cookie but know that they do not really spread. You can fit about 20 cookies on one baking sheet.
  • Bake cookies in preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Cookies will be very blonde. DO NOT TOUCH once removed from oven.
  • Allow cookies to cool for about 10 minutes.
  • Once slightly cooled, place cookies on a cooling rack to finish cooling off completely.
  • Once cookies are completely cooled, coat cookies in additional powdered sugar. Be gentle as they are delicate.
  • Enjoy!

NOTES

Original recipe discovered via TikTok: Angela Kay’s Kitchen. We called these Mexican Wedding Cookies while growing up. They are a fav!

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Homemade Bolillos

INGREDIENTS

  • 3.5 cups bread flour (optional: all-purpose)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1.5 tsp yeast
  • 1.5 tsp sugar
  • 1.5 cups warm water
  • 1 tbsp oil (*plus less than a tsp to rub on dough ball prior to rising — see instructions)

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Add all ingredients into stand mixer & kneed for 7 minutes.
  • Lightly flour surface and kneed into a ball.
  • Lightly cover with *additional oil and place into a bowl, covering with a kitchen towel before letting it rise somewhere warm for an hour. See notes!
  • Once your hour rise time is over, punch down dough and divide into 6 pieces.
  • Flatten out and roll into desired football shape. See notes to link for original recipe to get visual guidance on how to fold.The best way I can describe it is to flatten into an oval and slowly fold down from the top until rolled into a football shape, pinching at the edges to make the points.
  • Cover and let them rise for another hour.
  • Once second rise is over, brush with melted butter and score each dough down the middle.
  • Bake at 450 degrees for around 15 minutes (or until golden brown).
  • Brush with butter, if desired.

NOTES

I found this recipe via Tiktok user C’s Kitchen.

I take about 1 tbsp of butter and brush the baked bread with the butter immediately after removed from oven.

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Noah’s Yummy Ooey Gooey Bars

Recipe Highlight:  This is a quick & easy way to satisfy a sweet tooth. Noah makes his own mean version of these bad boys! This is my take on this popular homemade treat that’s sure to please even the most discerning tastebud at the family gathering.

Makes 9 x 13-inch pan of bars.

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

  • box of cake mix (I use French vanilla)
  • 1/2 cup of melted butter (1 stick)
  • 2 eggs
  • vanilla extract to taste

Filling

  • 8 ounces cream cheese (1 block)
  • 2 eggs
  • vanilla extract to taste
  • 4 cups powdered confectioner’s sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Melt butter.
  3. Add your box of cake mix to the melted butter and mix in eggs & vanilla to form a crust mixture.
  4. Press crust mixture into a 9 x 13-inch pan.
  5. In a separate bowl, cream together softened cream cheese (room temperature) with eggs & vanilla. Once mixed, slowly incorporate the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. This will be your topping mixture.
  6. Pour the topping mixture over the crust mixture.
  7. Place into your preheated oven, cooking for 35 to 40 minutes. When done, the middle will be softly set and the top of the bars will have a crinkled texture.
  8. Cool completely before eating.

NOTES

Kiddos: I love you so much! Please feel free to make this your own! I normally use the French vanilla cake mix, but the original calls for yellow cake mix … and lemon or strawberry would be fantastic as well! We always enjoyed putting them in the fridge once cooled as it transforms the topping! No matter how you enjoy them, know I’m thinking of you!

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Grandma’s Strawberry Crunch Cake

This is one of our traditional Christmas desserts, one that we’ve had every Christmas as long as I can remember. I even made sure to whip this up while we were in Boston, miles and miles away from our extended family back in Mississippi. It was comforting to share that little piece of home and helped me cope with missing them so very much during the holidays.

I post this here because I think I may be the last of my family to have this recipe. Someone had told me that my grandmother had lost it, and it would break my heart to lose this traditional family favorite.

It’s simple. And beautiful. This red and white delight is a lovely finishing touch to any holiday or spring table. I do hope you’ll try it when you can spare the calories.

INGREDIENTS

Crust:

  • 2 sticks of butter, melted
  • 2 cups of flour
  • 2 cups pecans
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • A pinch of salt if using AP flour, optional


FILLING:

  • 2 packages cream cheese, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • Box of Dream Whip (located near Jello in baking supplies aisle)
  • 1 can strawberry filling

INSTRUCTIONS

For crust: Place butter into baking dish and melt in a 350-degree oven. Add flour, nuts, and sugar to melted butter, forming a dough. Press the dough into the pan to form a crust and bake in pre-heated oven until golden. Cool.

For filling: Cream together softened cream cheese and powdered sugar. Prepare box of Dream Whip per box instructions (see notes below). Fold Dream Whip into cream cheese mixture. Pour combined mixture into cooled crust and top with strawberries before refrigerating.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

NOTES

Grandma’s recipe just states “box of dream whip”, but the box comes in 2 envelopes. Use both.

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Momma-style Bread Machine Rolls

INGREDIENTS

  • 8 oz water
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp powdered milk
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 320 g all-purpose flour
  • 1.5 tsp fast rising yeast

*Additional ingredients: I brush the tops of my baked rolls with butter once out of the oven. Should be about 1 tablespoon of butter, if that. I also sometimes lightly sprinkle flaked Maldon salt on top of my freshly buttered rolls.

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Add all the ingredients EXCEPT for the flour and yeast into the bread machine pan in the order listed.
  • Add in the all-purpose flour.
  • Make a well in the center of the flour and add in your yeast.
  • Once bread machine pan is locked in place, set the bread machine setting to DOUGH.
  • Once the bread machine completes its dough cycle, remove the dough from the bread machine pan onto a lightly floured surface.
  • Divide dough into half, then cut each half into thirds, before cutting each third into halves for a dozen large rolls.
  • Roll each piece into a ball and place onto a greased 9×13 baking pan.
  • Place the rolls in a warm place (*see notes) to rise for about an hour (until doubled in size).
  • Heat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
  • Brush the tops of the freshly baked rolls with butter (and sprinkle tops with flaked Maldon salt, if desired).

NOTES

For my warm place, I heat my own for only 1 minute at 350 degrees (just enough to warm the space), turn off the oven, turn on the oven light, and let my rolls rest in the closed oven for the required hour.

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Double Chocolate Small Batch Muffins

*I have a lower calorie version here, which we actually enjoy even more, but that may be because of our diet brains!

INGREDIENTS

  • 140 grams all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 40 g of sifted cocoa powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 90 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
  • 60 ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 120 ml (1/2 cup) whole milk
  • 75 g (1/2 cup) chocolate chips … plus more for decorating tops, if desired.

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Place 6 liners in muffin tin, alternating cups to leave a cup between each muffin if possible.
  • In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda.
  • Add salt, sugar, oil, vanilla, egg, and milk to dry ingredients and stir until combined. Try not to overmix.
  • Stir in chocolate chips.
  • Fill 6 lined muffin tins with mixture, overfilling to achieve a bakery-style muffin.
  • Dot top with additional chocolate chips (I love using chocolate chunks on top or chopped pieces of quality chocolate bars).
  • Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 18 minutes until risen & domed.

NOTES

Makes 6 bakery style muffins. If not sweet enough for your taste, add 2 heaping tablespoons of granulated sugar in addition to the brown sugar. However, I find these perfect as they are for my tastes. The chocolate flavor is deep and rich, akin to a lava cake or brownie.

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The Perfect Swim Biscuits & Southern-style Chocolate Gravy

The perfect biscuit is such a personal preference. Some people enjoy soft, fluffy biscuits. Some people enjoy a buttery, layered biscuit. And me? I love a biscuit that is somewhere between my mom’s fluffy biscuits and my grandmother’s buttery biscuits with a crispy crust straight from the cast iron. That’s where these easy swim biscuits come in!

INGREDIENTS

Biscuits:

  • 1 stick of butter
  • 2-1/2 cups flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 4 teaspoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 cups of milk

Chocolate Gravy:

  • 3/4 cups sugar
  • 1/4 cups cocoa
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 2 cups of milk or water
  • pinch of salt (to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

Biscuits:

  1. Turn on oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Place stick of butter into your cast iron skillet and put into oven as it is heating. Remove from oven when butter is melted (about 10 minutes). I like to leave it in there until the milk solids start turning golden.
  3. In a bowl, combine dry ingredients before adding in milk.
  4. Once butter is melted in iron skillet, drop heaping spoons of dough into the melted butter forming individual biscuits. I usually make around 9 large biscuits.
  5. Swirl your pan a little so that some of the butter also gets on top and in between your biscuits.
  6. Cook in 425-degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until the edges are crispy and the tops are golden brown.

Chocolate Gravy:

  1. Sift dry ingredients together into a saucepan.
  2. Slowly incorporate water or milk into dry ingredients. (My mom used water instead of milk!)
  3. Heat at medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is combined (no lumps!) and has thickened to a gravy consistency.
  4. Finish with a tab of butter (and some people add a touch of vanilla, but this was not traditional in our house growing up).

NOTES:

While it is trendy now to call this chocolate gravy and biscuits, these were just “chocolate biscuits” to us when growing up. This treat is a staple for any weekend country breakfast. Since Zach doesn’t like chocolate biscuits, make sure you also make a quick & tasty sausage milk gravy to top those swim biscuits! Add grits and a side of bacon … and you’re home. I love you, kiddos!

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