Caramel Apple Toffee Dip

 This delicious dip gets rave reviews wherever it goes. 

Ingredients: 

1 8oz package of cream cheese (room temperature)

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 8oz package of Heath English Toffee Bits

caramel sauce or caramel apple dip in a tub or homemade caramel

4 Granny Smith apples

Directions:

1. Beat cream cheese, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla in a mixing bowl.

2. Fold in half the bag of toffee bits, reserving 1/4 cup for later.

3. Transfer to serving bowl, pour caramel layer on top, then add toffee bits as a garnish.

4. Store in fridge until ready to serve with sliced apples.

Fairy Pancakes

AKA: Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup small curd cottage cheese

5 eggs (well-beaten)

6 Tbl flour

Pinch of sugar

Pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in blender. It should be thin.

2. Pour on hot griddle and flip when bubbly.

3. Serve with fruit syrup and whipped cream.

To double: 

2 cups cottage cheese

10 eggs

3/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Someone Else's Recipe Cookies

Preheat oven to 375.

    Cream: 

1 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

    Mix in: 

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

    Add:

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 1/4 cups flour

1 small chocolate or vanilla instant pudding mix

    Mix in:

chocolate chips, chopped pecans, whatever you want

    Bake for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Chelsea's Sourdough Bread

To Feed Your Starter

1. Before feeding, let your starter come to room temperature. It will separate, so mix with your stir stick and then feed it. The consistency should be like a thick frosty. Once you feed it, it will bubble up. It can over or under ferment. 

2. Add a generous 1/4 cup of quite warm water to your starter.

3. Add a scant 1/2 cup of bread flour and give it a rough mix.

4. Let it rest, covered, for one hour.

Always keep an inch of starter at the bottom of your mason jar. It can stay on the counter for a few days, or in the fridge for up to two weeks before it needs to be fed again. 

Chelsea's Sourdough Bread

1. Begin with 1/2 cup of fed starter and add 1 1/2 cups of quite warm water.

2. Next add 2 1/2 cups of bread flour plus 1/8 cup whole wheat flour. 

3. Mix and let rest, covered, for an hour.

4. Add 1/2 Tbl of SALT - do not forget this step!

5. Do a stretch and fold then let rest for 30 minutes.

6. During second stretch and fold, put in the add-ins and let rest for 30 minutes. 

ADD-INS for one loaf: 

1/2 cup cranberries and 1/2 cup white chocolate

1/2 Tbl minced garlic and 2 Tbl fresh rosemary

1/4 cup jarred jalapeño and 1/2 cup chunked sharp cheddar

cinnamon and raisins (plus salt on top)

Pink Himalayan salt on top

7. Do two more stretch and folds with half hour rest periods. If making two loaves, split after all the stretch and folds. If doing different mix ins, split before. 

8. Shape your bread into a circle. 

9. Dust bread bowl with flour and let loaf rest there for 6-8 hours. (If you start at noon, put it in the fridge. When you take it out, wait two hours or until it comes to room temperature).

10. Shape loaf again and let it rise for 1-2 more hours. It should almost double in size.  Preheat oven with pot in it 30 minutes before you want to start baking.

11. Flip loaf over onto parchment paper without popping bubbles and score loaf. 

12. Lift paper into preheated pot and bake for 30 minutes with the lid, 10 minutes without the lid. Keep an eye on it for a browned top.

Two Loaves of Sourdough

Generous cup of starter

5 cups bread flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

3 cups quite warm water

1 Tbl salt

If you want two loaves of bread for Sunday dinner, then: 

On Saturday take out your starter at 10am. Let it warm up until noon. Feed it and let it rest. Feed it again at midnight. 

On Sunday morning at 6:00 am, start it and let it rest one hour. 

Start stretch and folds at 7, 7:30, 8, and 8:30.  Shape it and let it rest until 2:30. Reshape it and let it rest for 1-2 hours.  At 4, preheat the oven to 450. At 4:30, bake for 30 minutes with lid on, 10 more with lid off. First loaf done at 5:10, second done around 6pm.

Elena's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients for 18 large cookies

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened *see notes
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla 
• 2 large eggs (cold)
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour* plus a tablespoon or two if needed
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt 
• 2 cups or one 12-oz package of chocolate chips (Nestle or TJ's semi-sweet)
• Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F, but use convection so you can bake on all racks at one time.

2. Cut butter into pieces (about 2 tablespoons each) and place in Kitchen Aid mixing bowl and turn it on power 2. 

3. After a few seconds, add sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed until creamy (this takes just a few seconds). The butter and the sugars should be mixed enough so no chunks of butter are visible.
4. Add eggs, beating just until incorporated and smooth. Never turn the beaters on high.

5. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

6. Add 2 cups of the flour, soda, salt and chocolate chips all together into bowl with butter mixture.

7. Add the remaining 3/4 cup of flour to the top of this mixture. Slowly mix the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips together. I have had great success with simply PULSING the mixer at this point. Do not over mix. Turn the dough with a rubber spatula so the bottom of the dough is mixed into the top of the dough. This will ensure the flour is mixed in properly and the chips are distributed evenly.

8. If the dough is sticky, add an additional 2-3 tablespoons of flour to the dough. Remove the bowl from the stand if using a stand mixer, and fold in the flour. (This is only necessary if the dough is sticky).

9. Using a #16 cookie scoop, drop onto un-greased baking sheets, or baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Place 6-8 scoops of dough on each baking sheet.

10. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.
11. If using convection, bake for 7-10 minutes until golden brown.
12. If using regular (non convection) oven, bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

13. Cookies should be slightly golden and the cookie should not look wet on top.

14. Cool on baking sheets completely.

Recipe Notes

• The butter should be more firm than room temperature butter. I take it straight out of the fridge, and microwave it for about  12 seconds and remove butter. You want the butter to be barely soft, as in, when you push your finger into the butter it should barely leave an indentation, but it should leave an indentation. 
• Don’t over beat the butter-sugar mixture, or the batter will become too soft, and your cookies will not be beautiful and puffy. They will resemble pancakes.
• Two of the biggest mistakes made while baking cookies are: 1-Over mixing. This will cause the batter have too much air incorporated, producing a fluffy cookie, instead of a chewy one. As stated in the updated recipe, I usually just pulse the mixer after the dry ingredients are added, which creates more of a folding action instead of mixing.  2-Over baking. Under baking is good! Not under baked to the point the cookie is wet and doughy, but just until the top sets and doesn’t look wet, and the dough looks like it has a bit of a crust.
• If the cookie spreads too much, or the edges are not even, I take a small spatula and push the edges inward to create a cookie that is round. This has to be done immediately after removing from the oven, or remove the pans half way through baking and push the sides in to form a circle. Place pan back in oven and finish baking.
• Last tip. Mound the cookie into a ball. I make them about the size of a golf ball. I use a  #16 cookie scoop. For years, I just used a spoon, and then shaped them by hand. Make sure to flatten the cookie just a little bit before baking. To yield 18 cookies use a  2 1/4 inch  or #16 scoop
• 
  

Doubled: (you should do this and freeze half for later)

• 4 sticks unsalted butter, softened *see notes
• 1.5 cup sugar
• 1.5 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons vanilla 
• 4 large eggs (cold)
• 5.5 cups all-purpose flour* plus a tablespoon or two if needed
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoon coarse sea salt 
• 4 cups or two 12-oz packages of chocolate chips (Nestle or TJ's semi-sweet)
• 
  

(Basically verbatim from A Bountiful Kitchen Tried & True Chocolate Chip Cookies with the addition of baking powder.)

Heather's Holy Guacamole

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes, chopped
1 small onion, chopped (any type will work)
1 bunch of cilantro, snipped

1 tsp. garlic, minced
2 tsp. lime juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 avocados, mashed

Directions:

1. Combine chopped tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and garlic. 

2. Add mashed avocado, then add salt and lime juice to taste. 

3. Serve with chips or with Mexican food of any persuasion. 

This guacamole does not store well, but there won't be any leftovers anyway.

Rick's Nutella Hot Fudge Sundaes

This may look simple, but trust me . . . you'll thank me later.

Ingredients:

Super Premium Vanilla Ice Cream (Costco)

Nutella

Whipped cream

Directions:

1. Add one large scoop of vanilla ice cream and 1/4 cup of Nutella in a bowl.

2. Melt it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

3. Stir and add 15 more seconds if needed.

4. Drizzle hot fudge down the sides of your fancy thrift store ice cream dish, add ice cream, and top with whipped cream. 

Tanner's Gingersofts

Ingredients: 

1 ½ cups butter (room temp.) 

2 cups sugar 

2 eggs 

½ cup molasses 

5 cups flour 2 tsp cinnamon 

4 tsp baking soda 

1 ½ tsp cloves 

2 tsp ginger 

 

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 

2. Cream butter and sugar 

3. Add eggs and molasses 

4. Mix in dry ingredients 

5. Form into 1 inch balls 

6. Roll in sugar 

7. Smash down with bottom of glass 

8. Bake 8-10 minutes but do not overbake

Besta's Bread

 

Ingredients: 

3 C warm water 

2 T sugar 

7-8 C flour 

2 T yeast 

2 T oil 

1 T salt 

Directions: 

Mix together and knead until smooth. Rise until double. Divide in half and shape into loaves. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Raise for 20 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. 

Tips: 

•    Make 3 loaves, not 2 

• Make three slits on top of loaves and if you want 

• Bake on a lower shelf so top doesn't overbrown and bottom is sure to get done- better to bake a few minutes extra than underdone 

• Pound and work that dough a lot when kneading to activate the gluten- this makes it like Grandma Sycamore's toast! 

   Best enjoyed with homemade jam!