The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza!

I have not become so detached from the things that really matter in life that I have missed Jz's recent announcement. 

Please do join up and play with us! I am sadly down on the whole cooking front and could seriously use some new recipes!

Directly from Jz~

"Dust off your baking pans, because on Wednesday, December 9th 2015

The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza returns!

Won't YOU please join us?

It's easy to play along. 

Just post a recipe that day for a holiday goodie -- any goodie. 

It doesn't have to be for cookies… or even be sweet.

We do not discriminate against any goodie.

(We are equal opportunity consumers around here.)

That's pretty much all there is to it.

The single catch is that there's only one way to get your name in the official list of participants: You have to contact me (Jz) by Monday, Dec. 7th with both your name and the address of your blog."

A Question of Favorite Dishes

Courtesy of his slut (with a chime in from Jz for recipes), "What is your favorite dish to cook? What is your favorite dish to bake? What is Alpha's favorite meal that you cook?"

Oh geez, I'm not a huge fan of cooking these days. I'm still learning how to use the electric range and the results are...Less than stellar lol. Couple that with the drastic change in elevation, and it's like learning to cook all over again! My fool-proof recipes are not so fool proof anymore.

At the moment, I have no favorite dishes to cook--if it's not moving on the plate, and is edible, I'm down with that.Terrible, isn't it?

My favorite dish to bake is chocolate ream pie. While I'm not sure that it technically qualifies as a "dish", deserts are the only thing I really tend to bake. The recipe can be found here.

Alpha's favorite meal that I cook is bacon wrapped shrimp drenched in cream sauce and piled on steak. If' I'm feeling rich, he likes the cream sauce with crab in it.

Keep in mind that this is one of those things fibbed up in my kitchen upon request, so it's not an exact science by any means.

Recipe:
Large shrimp (raw) prawns are best, but definitely more pricey.
Bacon (raw)
Crab
Heavy cream
Butter
Garlic (as much as you want. If you use too much, it does overpower the crab though)
Small amount of flour
Flank steak to pour everything on top of

Directions:
Wrap the shrimp in bacon and run a toothpick through to keep from coming unwrapped. Saute until bacon is cooked through, turning occasionally. While that's cooking, I sear up the steak until cooked (I like mine bleeding, he prefers his a little more well done). For the cream sauce, melt butter with minced garlic, add a bit of flour and whisk for about a minute (easy on the flour, if you use to much, it comes out like gravy. You can always add more if you need to, but it's best a bit on the runny side and the cream is pretty thick). Pour in the cream and whisk until smooth and just below simmering. Add crab and heat until done, avoiding bringing it to a boil.
Put your steak on a plate, toss your bacon wrapped shrimp on top, and drown in cream sauce.

The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza

It's that time of year again! Time for the annual online cookie exchange extravaganza, hosted by the lovely Jz.

The cookie exchange extravaganza will be on December 10th this year!

How it works:

Before Tuesday, December 9th, (this is important, she compiles a list of all the participants so that we can all post the links on our blogs, late submissions create more work for her, and may result in your blog not being on the list. We don't want to miss any goodies!) send Jz your name, and the link to your blog.
Jz will use that information to compile a list of blog links that we can put in our recipe posts (you will receive the list via email). That way, everyone will be able to hop around and find all of the awesome recipes.
On December 10th, you post your goody recipe, (anything sweet, not just cookies) with the list of links from Jz, and we all get to spend the day increasing our stash of treat recipes!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment, and I'll do my best to answer!

Edited to add: Good recipes of all kinds are welcomed, not just sweets! Thank the gods, because after this one I'll have used up my best desserts...

The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza!

My all-time favorite Blogland event is just around the corner--The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza, hosted and coordinated by the awesomely dedicated Jz, over at A Reluctant Bitch.
It's totally awesome, really. You'll love it, promise. Everyone does.

If you want to play, on December 5th, post a recipe for the holiday goodie of your choice (there is no discrimination against varying kinds of goodies).
The only conditions are, that you absolutely must email Jz your recipe, and the URL of your blog, no later than December 3rd, if you want to be on the official list of participants.

The lovely Jz will compile a list of links to the participating blogs, and we all put the list in our recipe posts. That way, we can find all the good stuff other people decide to share.

Feel free to email me with any questions, or drop by and visit Jz. Even if you don't have questions, but want a peek at the previous years cookie exchange, she has them all right there, so it's well worth stopping by and taking a gander.

So, just a quick recap:
If you want to play, and I really hope that you do, you must email Jz a copy of your recipe and the URL of  your blog no later than December 3rd. Then, on December 5th, post your recipe on your blog, along with the list of participants that the lovely Jz will have compiled and sent to us all.

It's a lot of work putting all of this together, so lets make it as easy on her as we can by following the very simple rules stated above. We're pretty good with rules, right?

Won't you please come out and play with us?

P.S If anyone would like to share a recipe, but doesn't have a blog of their own, I would be happy to post it here if you want to email it to me.

Coconut Cake Galore

Okay, so I received three links to coconut cake recipes, which left me with the dilemma of which one to use. I am somewhat ashamed to admit the selection criteria I settled on: Whichever one used forms of measurement that I was familiar with and didn't have to convert.
Lazy, I know.

Here's the one I ended up making:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/coconut-cupcakes-recipe/index.html

I think that I had some altitude issues with it, because it came out pretty dense, and a little less coconuty than I had thought. But it was really good, and it went well with the icing for German chocolate cake, (I could just eat that stuff by the spoonful) and the lime curd (though the curd was eye-rollingly tart).

I made coconut ice cream too , and it was like...Almost more coconut than a coconut lol. All together it was pretty damn good!

For anyone who is interested in experimenting, here are the other two recipes I was sent:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8660/coconut-cake
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/coconut-cake-2925
I haven't tried either of these yet, but I do have some leftover coconut... 

Thank you to the lovely ladies who sent me the recipes!

The Great Online Cookie Exchange Extravaganza--Orange Cake

Thanks to Jz for continuing to organize this delicious event!

I'm not good with cookies, but I am good with cake. So I decided to share a recipe for orange cake with an orange curd filling. There was a rumble of protest from Alpha regarding giving away family secrets...But he let me play anyways. 

The most important thing about this cake (and the curd), is to squeeze the citrus yourself--do not use pre-made juice!

Ideally, the curd should be made a day in advance of assembling the cake. It can also be made with lemon instead. No additional changes to the recipe are necessary as it was originally a lemon curd.

Orange Curd:
8 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon orange juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into pieces

Whisk egg yolks and sugar together in a medium sized heavy bottom pan until smooth. Add lemon juice, orange juice, and zest. Place pan on medium heat and add butter, stirring occasionally until smooth and thickened (about 15 minutes). Remove from heat and place plastic wrap directly on surface of curd to prevent it from forming a skin. Refrigerate at least three hours--overnight is better.

Orange cake:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans
Zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cup butter
3 eggs
3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
 Combine:
1 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Combine orange zest, sugar, and butter. Cream until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the liquid. Beat batter until smooth after each addition.
Pour into prepared pans and bake for 1/2 an hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool completely before assembling cakes with curd in the center.

I like this cake with a cream cheese frosting. Though I have never bothered to measure, so all ingredients are to taste. It's also perfectly delicious with a regular butter-cream frosting--just add a bit of orange zest. Either way, I would recommend that you avoid making it too sugary, as the orange curd is quite sweet.

Icing:
Cream cheese
half as much butter as cream cheese
generous amount of orange zest
powdered sugar

Below are the links to the other participants in the cookie exchange. Enjoy browsing all the goodies!

Advizor54

aisha

Ally

Autumn in jeans  

Beth

Dana

Elysia

Emi J,

Fiona

Greengirl

Hedone

HisLilAngel

Joey

Julia

Jz

Krissy

lil

Linda Long

Little Monkey

mouse (her recipe here, her blog here) 

Mrs. Soft Bottom

Ms. Constance

Naughty Kitty 

nilla

Penelope

Ronnie

Ryan Beaumont

Sassy

selkie, (her recipe here, her blog here)

Serenity

sin

Striving for Peace

TemptingSweets

Tom

Veronica

Chocolate Cheesecake?

I am looking for a chocolate cheesecake recipe. I have a pretty good one, but it's dense and I like the fluffy kind.
Anybody have a recipe for me? Pretty please?
And yes, I did Google...There really is such a thing as too many options. And while experimenting is fun, I want to know it's going to turn out good lol.

Chocolate, Chocolate, And Did I Mention Chocolate?

 So it's the 2011 Great Online Cookie Exchange extravaganza. Kindly organized by the lovely Jz. I don't do many cookies, so you'll have to get your new cookie recipes from one of the other participants.

This is basically a vegan recipe turned into a heart attack on a plate with enough dairy products to overdose on. My mom used to make what I call "the bottom half" of this pie when I was a kid. I have since put it through an incredibly unhealthy, yet delicious, evolutionary process.
This will make two pies if you use a pre-made crust as the shells are a bit smaller than the homemade ones.
I know that the majority of people will be incredibly turned off by the main ingredient in the first half of this recipe. Try it anyways. You can’t taste the secret ingredient. I promise.
Both parts should be made a day in advance. And don’t use cheap chocolate!

lil’s Deviant Decadence Double Layer Chocolate Mocha Cream Pie
Bottom half:
1 cooked Oreo pie crust. If you use the pre-made kind, you will need two.
3 cups firm silken tofu--the kind that does not require refrigeration. Here it’s “mori-nu” brand (the non-silken kind will NOT make for good texture).
1 cup melted butter
2 tsp. vanilla
¾ cup unsweetened Ghirardelli baking cocoa
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup heavy cream as needed for blending (use less if you can)

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Pour into pie shell, cover completely with a circle of wax paper and refrigerate.

Top half:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 TBS. hot espresso or strong coffee sweetened to taste. You can also substitute in 1 TBS cream liqueur of your choice.
4 oz. Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking chocolate broken into small pieces
1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, combine coffee and chocolate. Heat on low stirring occasionally. Once chocolate is melted and mixture is completely smooth (but don’t over heat this. Bad things happen), remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form while occasionally stirring cooling chocolate mixture. When chocolate reaches room temperature, (if it’s still warm more bad things happen) fold it into the cream until it is a consistent color and texture. Refrigerate in an airtight container overnight. Spread over bottom half of pie and drown in whipped cream before serving.

Here is the list of the other participants:
Edit: omg there's some yummy stuff here. Well worth checking out!

Aisha
Alice
Ally
Another Suburban Mom
Ashly Star
Beau
Beth
Conina
Elysia
greengirl
Hedone
Jack & Jill
His wyld rose
Infidelity Chronicles
Jz
Kirsti
Krissy
lil
Linda Long
Little Monkey
Lola!
Mijena
mouse
Naughty Kitty
nilla
ponderouspet
ronnie
Rose
Ryan
Sara
selkie (her recipe here, her blog here)
Sephani Page
Serenity
shadesofblue
striving for peace
sin
Tempting Sweets
The Missus
undercovermetamorphosis
Viemoira
morningstar

I see a lot of copy and paste in my future today...Yum!