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Friday, June 15, 2012

Coffee Cinnamon Snack Cake: Recipe Swap

For this round of the Recipe Swap I got paired with Nicole of Cookies on Friday.  I had a hard time choosing from her amazing selection of sweets!  I ended up making a quick decision though, since I originally thought the posting/reveal date was NEXT Friday and on Wednesday realized I had gotten it wrong.  I had an evening event at my school on Wednesday and a combination of not enough time to make it home in between and getting home late made it impractical to bake anything on that night.  Thursday I had another after school event, though this one was immediately after school so I made it home with some baking time to spare, but not much.  Definitely not enough for multiple batches of cookies so a bar cookie it was!  


I agree with Nicole that the texture of the bar is more like a cake than a cookie, so I updated the name accordingly.  It smelled fabulous as the batter came together.  I love coffee and cinnamon so this recipe called to me.  The only changes I made (besides the name!) is to double the cinnamon and leave out the nuts.  It's quite cinnamon-y this way, but that's the way I like it so you can feel free to drop it back down to a 1/2 teaspoon.  I'm not a fan of hazelnuts and normally would have substituted almonds, but we were out of them.  I'm looking forward to having a piece with a great cup of french press coffee this weekend as my breakfast.  I think the flavors and texture lend itself perfectly to breakfast and might even try a version with more of a streusel top versus the glaze here to push it towards the coffeecake realm (and more socially acceptable breakfast option).




I was also playing around with the settings on iPhoto on my iPad and found this 'artistic' rendition amusing:






Coffee Cinnamon Snack Cake
from Cookies on Friday


Ingredients:


Cake:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/2 cup warm water
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
About 2 tablespoons milk




Directions:
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cream the brown sugar, shortening and egg in a stand mixer for 3 minutes.  
  • While the mixer is working, steep the espresso powder in the warm water, stirring to dissolve.
  • Add the water mixture, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda to the sugar mixture and beat slowly to combine.  Add the flour in thirds (1/2 cup at a time), mixing to combine between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
  • Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.
  • Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out from the center with no crumbs.  Allow to cool.
  • Combine the glaze ingredients, starting with just 1 tablespoon milk.  Whisk together and slowly pour in the second tablespoon of milk until reaching desired consistency.  

Monday, June 11, 2012

Creamy Chicken Taquitos: Secret Recipe Club

I was so excited to get my assignment for this month's Secret Recipe Club!  This is a blog I've been following for a few years now so I already had it in my Google Reader with plenty of starred recipes ready to go!  Even though I thought I was pretty sure of what I wanted to make, Rachel at Good Thymes & Good Food had plenty of mouth-watering pictures to make me reconsider my choice several times!  My first thought was her recent Chocolate and Salted Caramel Pudding Pops, which I am sure I will make at some point this summer, but then I found myself gravitating toward dinner dishes to complete our weekly menu.  This Southwest Chicken Meatball Skillet was on my list, and is another recipe I am sure we make make before the summer is over, but I finally chose (with Zach's help) Creamy Chicken Taquitos.


These were all the rage on many food blogs in 2011, but I never made them.  I tend to have an unusual reaction when something is popular and it seems like everyone is saying "You MUST eat/read/do this/watch/listen to/make these RIGHT NOW!"  The more I hear that, the less likely I am to do the activity in question.  But, now that the hype has died down over these taquitos, I read the recipe and decided that I'd give them a try.  Now that no one was insisting that I run out and buy the ingredients to make them this very instant I was much more likely to actually make them.  Call me an opposite hipster; hipsters like things before they are cool, I suppose I like things after they are cool.  Just add Creamy Chicken Taquitos in with The Dark Night, The Hangover, Adele, Bridesmaids, and The Voice.


Anyway, we thought these were really great.  The flavors were delicious and they made a nice dinner with the addition of sides of brown rice and refried beans.  We used one giant chicken breast, seared in a pan with just salt and pepper, but you could definitely use leftover roasted or rotisserie chicken as well.  The only thing I might change would be to add in some of the Hatch chiles we have in our freezer next time.  We used a medium size tortilla, not the small taco ones and not the large ones for burritos or wraps. Our grocery store calls them 'gordita' sized.  Using the smaller, taco-sized tortillas would make for a super appetizer for a party.






Creamy Chicken Taquitos
from Good Thymes & Good Food
Makes 10 medium taquitos or 16 small


Ingredients:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup green salsa
1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice, about 1 lime

1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
2 green onions, sliced
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
8 ounces shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend, but you can use any combination you like.)
10 medium flour tortillas
Kosher salt
cooking spray

Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  
  • Combine cream cheese, salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, cilantro, green onions and chicken in large bowl.
  • Add in black beans and cheese and stir gently until just combined.
  • Portion 3-4 tablespoons of mixture on each tortilla.  You should place it on the bottom third of the tortilla and then wrap up the tortilla, rolling tightly.  Place the rolled tortillas on a baking sheet, seam side down, about an inch from each other.  
  • Spray the tops of the rolled tortillas with cooking spray and sprinkle with kosher salt.  Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tortillas are browned and crispy.