Chocolate chip cookie dough fudge.

Last month, I made Cake Batter Fudge and peeps went nuts.  I obviously went nuts too because it was fudge.  That tasted like straight-up cake batter.  Sweet, silky, NO-BAKE, and overflowing with sprinkles.  It’s like, the best thing ever.

After my cake batter binge, I ordered Lindsay Landis’  newest masterpiece.  The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook.  Was this book made for me?  The cake batter, cookie dough loving fool that I am?  Yes.  Yes, it was.  In fact, Lindsay dedicates it to anyone who’s ever been caught with their finger in the mixing bowl.  I’m def raising my hand here.

Lindsay’s cookbook is FULL of recipes devoted to chocolate chip cookie dough.  But unlike the forbidden batter bowls you are used to, her cookie dough recipes are entirely egg free and safe to eat right out of the bowl!! I can hardly contain myself.

In my recent sally’s-NO-baking-addiction stint, I whipped up this incredibly simple no-bake fudge.  I had NO IDEA fudge was so easy to make.  Has anyone been to a Fudge Kitchen before?  The huge copper kettles, candy thermometers, endless stiring… ummm, no thanks.  That won’t be happening in my tiny kitchen anytime soon.

This fudge comes together so easily, that you will honestly wonder what you did wrong.   The hardest part of making this is waiting for it to set up.

The fudge doesn’t have cookie dough chunks in it.  Rather, the cookie dough is swirled throughout the whole batch..  With each bite, I honestly felt like I was eating a huge spoonful of raw cookie dough.

With how EASY this recipe is, there is no excuse not to make it!  I kept mine in the refrigerator and enjoyed a cold, creamy, + smooth square after my workouts one week.

I run for cookie dough.  And margaritas.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge

makes 36 fudge squares

For Cookie Dough

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, soften to room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp half-and-half (or milk or cream)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Broccoli parmesan fritters

Last week, it was pointed out to me that among the 750 recipes in the archives, there is but a single recipe that utilizes broccoli. Just one! (It’s a great one, though.) For comparison, there are 11 recipes that use cauliflower and 26 with mushrooms. What terrible oversight could have led to this? I buy broccoli (and its friends) approximately once a week, year-round but this wasn’t always the case. I never disliked broccoli — I’m not this guy — but it wasn’t until my toddler took a great interest in chomping down on huge florets, raw, cooked, or three days old, that it became part of our regular rotation.

Please understand: this is not one of those stories about how preciously advanced my toddler’s tastes are, how early he took an interest in foie gras and how he turns his nose up at white flour pastas, preferring farro. Oh no. It is, in fact, the opposite. Let’s say you called me on the phone day — you know, presuming we lived on a planet where people still spoke on the phone — and said “My toddler! He eats nothing but macaroni and cheese and graham crackers! How do I get him to eat vegetables?” I would respond, without blinking twice: “Fritters.” Except my enthusiasm for fritters is so great that it would come out “FRITTERS!” in the background, I’d be doing jazz hands, and in my head, there would be Rockettes singing and high-kicking to this tune that I promise to never sing for you in person that goes, “Fritterrrrrrrrs! Fritters are the answer!” Let’s definitely never speak about this part again.

I have a theory that you can tuck almost any finely chopped or shredded vegetable — be it potatoes, zucchini, or an Indian-spiced mix — into a savory pancake, fry it in small mounds until crisp on both sides, serve it with a dollop of a sour cream or yogurt sauce and they will be inhaled. They’re one of these magical foods. They come together quickly. You can make them with whatever you have on hand, even leftover vegetables. They freeze well. They reheat well. You can put an egg on top of them and call them a balanced meal. They are one of the universe’s most perfect foods and I have found that toddler-types love them.

So, you know where this is going. One day, at a loss for what to make my very own toddler for lunch, I had the audacity to take some of his leftover steamed broccoli florets, mash them into a Parmesan batter, fry them until crisp and heavenly and I was about as puffed and proud of my cooking efforts as a mama could be, and you know, he wouldn’t touch them. Not a bit. Not even a sniff. And it was all because I’d forgotten the two rules of feeding toddlers. 1. The greater your enthusiasm is about a dish the less likely it is that a toddler will eat it. It is known. 2. If your child likes something aggressively healthy — like, say, broccoli — raw or barely cooked and totally unseasoned and horrifically bland to you, you don’t have to mess with it. You can just leave it alone.

And with that, I had them for lunch instead. And they were fantastic.

One year ago: Dobos Torte
Two years ago: Strawberry Ricotta Graham Tartlets
Three years ago: Springy, Fluffy Marshmallows and Spanikopita Triangles
Four years ago: Breakfast Apricot Crisp and Dead Simple Slaw
Five years ago: Gateau de Crepes

Broccoli Parmesan Fritters

There’s a lot of broccoli and very little pancake in this fritter. The broccoli is not grated or pureed, but left in small, recognizable bits that are bound lightly, faintly, to their batter of egg, parmesan and flour. And when you cook them right — that is, to a crisp, in a preheated, heavy, oil-slicked skillet — they get a fantastic crisp edge to them, like they were coated in frico. I imagine that if you were to roll the pancake in additional parmesan, it would get extra frico, though I haven’t tried it yet. Also, I’d like someone to start a band called Extra Frico.

To serve: I like these with a dollop of the garlicky lemon yogurt I share here, roughly 1 cup plain yogurt, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tiny minced clove of garlic, a bit of zest and salt. It would also be good with this homemade ricotta, with or without additional lemon juice. They’re also good simply, with just a squeeze of lemon juice. I think I’d also enjoy them with a little crumbled feta on top. Oh, and of course, you can put a runny fried egg on top of it. But I don’t need to tell you that.

Yield: 9 (because my recipes never want to grace us with neat, well-rounded numbers) 2 to 2 1/2-inch fritters

8 ounces (1 small-to-medium bundle, 225 grams) fresh broccoli (3 cups chopped)
1 large egg
1/2 cup (65 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (30 grams) finely grated parmesan cheese
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more to taste
A pinch of red pepper flakes or several grinds of black pepper
Olive or vegetable oil for frying

Prepare your broccoli: Separate the florets from the biggest stem(s). Cut the florets into 1-inch chunks. To prepare the stems, I like to peel them, as the skin can be thick and doesn’t cook quickly, then slice them into 1/2-inch lengths. You should have about 3 cups of chopped broccoli total.

Steam your broccoli until tender but not mushy: Use whatever method you prefer. My quickie, lazy method is to bring a 1/2-inch or so of water to a boil in a small saucepan, then add the broccoli, place a lid on it and simmer it for 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the broccoli, then set it aside to cool slightly.

In the bottom of a large bowl, lightly beat your egg. Add the flour, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Then, add the somewhat cooled broccoli and, using a potato masher, mash the broccoli just a bit. You’re looking to keep the bits recognizable, but small enough (1/4- to 1/2-inch chunks) that you can press a mound of the batter into a fritter in the pan. Once mashed a bit, stir or fold the ingredients together the rest of the way with a spoon. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Heat a large, heavy skillet over moderate heat. Once hot, add a good slick of oil (I usually use a mix of olive and vegetable oil), about 2 to 3 tablespoons. Once the oil is hot (you can test it by flicking a droplet of water into it; it should hiss and sputter), scoop a two tablespoon-size mound of the batter and drop it into the pan, then flatten it slightly with your spoon or spatula. Repeat with additional batter, leaving a couple inches between each. Once brown underneath, about 2 to 3 minutes, flip each fritter and cook on the other side until equally golden, about another 1 to 2 minutes.

Transfer briefly to paper towels to drain, then to a serving plate if you’ll be eating them shortly or a baking sheet in a 200 degree oven if you’d like to keep them warm for a while until needed. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil as needed. Serve with some of the suggestions listed in the head notes, above.

Cowgirl Cookies

Yeehaaa… yum yum… it’s Cowboy Cookies. Or, in this case, Cowgirl Cookies.

A friend introduced these to me and I love them. Especially the name. Cowboy Cookies. Cowboy Cookies. Cowboy Cookies. Rolls off the tongue doesn’t it? Well, I took the traditional oats, chocolate chips and pecans this cookie is known for and added some pink m&m’s to make them, well, more girly.

But why stop there. I also made a few cookie mixes to try out as a test run for a gift idea. You see, I missed said friend’s birthday (sorry friend) and I wanted to make up for it. So, I took her basic recipe and made a few adjustments so I could fit all the ingredients into these jars.

But which one should I give her? It actually matters because I made four different variations. If you notice in the photo above, some of them have more oats, more flour or more sugar. I was trying different combinations to get all the ingredients to fit.

Cowgirl Cookies

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Stir all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Add

1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup butter (melted slightly in the microwave)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Use the back of a large spoon to work it all together. You may even need to use your hands to get everything incorporated.

Then roll the cookie dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, place on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. I got about 26-28 cookies out of these.

Here’s how they came out.

Pretty and tasty. But I still want to try the other mixes later, and if one tastes better I’ll make sure and update the recipe. Besides, I want to know how long these will last in jars. Any ideas?

Want to make some cute cookie mix gifts, too? Here’s how.

Start with a 1 quart smooth Ball jar. I found these at Hobby Lobby craft store.

Layer the ingredients in like this:

First: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt
Second: oats
Third: m&ms
Fourth: chocolate chips
Fifth: brown sugar
Sixth: white sugar
Seventh: chopped pecans

Pack each level down really tightly. I mean it. Pack it in. Or else it won’t all fit. Also, I added the chopped pecans last, because if the ingredients were too much or not enough, then I could add more or less pecans to adjust. I’d rather sacrifice nuts than chocolate, you know. The ingredients should be flush to the top of the lid when you seal it up.

See. There’s some of the pecans peeking out from under the fabric.

To decorate the top of the jars, get a spool of suede cord and some fabric. I really wanted to find some pink western bandana fabric, but this will do.
Anyway, cut the fabric into 6 inch squares and the suede into 25 inch pieces. Place the fabric on top and tie ribbons around the lid to hold it in place.

For the labels, you’ll need some card stock, a paper punch and double-sided tape.

You can use the pink labels I made if you want. DOWNLOAD THE PDF HERE.

I also included one for the baking instructions and a label for Cowboy Cookies in brown if you want to gift these to boys or girls.

Note: you can change the color of m&ms and give them as Halloween gifts, or Christmas gifts, too. Check out the seasonal m&ms in the candy aisle. They are usually available in special holiday colors or themes. The pink ones were in the Breast Cancer awareness bag. Also another great gift idea.

Enjoy!

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos Recipe

One of the best grilled appetizers is bacon wrapped jalapeno peppers. This recipe is so easy to make and it only consist of 3 ingredients; fresh jalapenos peppers, cream cheese, and bacon.  The jalapeno peppers are first sliced in half then seeded, stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped with bacon and grilled. You should consider wearing gloves when slicing and seeding the jalapenos because they can burn your hands. With the play offs coming up and the super bowl near this is a perfect recipe for game day. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
6 fresh jalapeno peppers (halved lengthwise and seeded)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
12 slices bacon

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Pre-heat an outdoor grill to high heat. Spread the cream cheese into the jalapeno halves. Wrap bacon around the stuffed jalapenos and secure with a toothpick.

Step 2: Place onto the grill and cook until the bacon is crispy.
(Makes 6 Servings)