¡Salúd!

Let's talk margaritas.  When you order a margarita, they generally fall into two catagories: tooth-achingly sweet or too sour.  But, that glorious moment when you find the right one...it's like the cocktail heavens opened up and you see the light.  Let's see the light.

The Cast:

Ok before I list the ingredients I will tell you that I am basically making my own sour mix.  I'm making a simple syrup and using fresh lime juice, instead of using a store- bought, premade margarita mix.  

For the simple syrup:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

4-5 oz fresh lime juice

1 1/4 oz tequila

1/2 oz triple sec

Salt or sugar for the rim of the glass

To make the simple syrup:

Mix the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves

Put the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil and then down to a simmer for about 10 minutes, let this cool and it will become syrupy 

Ok hi.  We're only going to use 1 1/2 - 2 oz of this for 1 drink so just put the rest in a container in your fridge.  You can use this to sweeten your coffee or tea or whatever you want sweetened.  

Now, rim the glass with salt(or sugar if you prefer).  Do this by rubbing a lime slice around the edge of the glass and dipping it in salt(or sugar)

Evenly distribute the salt(or sugar) on a small plate

Rub the glass with the lime

Dip, then turn in the salt to get an even covering of the rim

Nice. 

Now fill the glass with ice.

Now in a shaker cup/mason jar with a lid/whatever you want to use to mix your cocktail, fill with ice as well

Pour in the tequila, triple sec, 1 1/2 oz simple syrup, 4 oz lime juice

Slap on the lid and shake

Strain into the glass and garnish with a slice of lime

¡Salúd!

 

PB & C Cookie Factory

The man of the house made a request for peanut butter cookies with chocolate.  I, being the sugar fiend that I am, will appease such a request.  

So, I made peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies.  I feel like chunks needed to be used here because these cookies are sort of the "bricks and mortar" of my sweet tooth.  

Our weaponry:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 

1 cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky whatever 

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

1 (12 oz) bag chocolate chunks, or chips whatever

Please, please, please, please use unsalted butter here because we are not adding any salt and the peanut butter is generally salty enough. 

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees

Begin creaming the butter and peanut butter until fluffy

Add in the sugars and beat until fluffy

Add in the vanilla and eggs(one at a time)

Mix well

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in half of the flour along with the baking soda

One half

Other half

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and fold in the chocolate chunks

Using a cookie scoop/ice cream scoop whatever you call it, or 2 spoons, drop by spoon(or scoop)fuls onto lined baking sheets

Look at that, all my soldiers in formation

Bake at 325 for 15-20min, until puffy and golden

Cheers

Dessert For Breakfast

Name a breakfast food that's basically just dessert eaten in the morning.  Pancakes? French toast? Crêpes? Not today.  I'm talking about muffins. Let's be honest, they're practically a cupcake without frosting.  

Let's make some raspberry lemon muffins.  With also a little lesson in substitutions.  

Meet the cast:

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk*(optional)

A lemon

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup oil 

8 oz raspberry or lemon flavor yogurt(or 6oz and use my substitution below)

6 oz fresh raspberries

1 very, very ripe banana*

Topping:

1 tablespoon cold butter

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tablespoons flour

*the milk here will be combined with lemon juice to make a thickened tangy milk to make up for the missing 2 oz of yogurt I didn't have. 

*the very ripe banana will help with adding moisture and sweetness since a lot of muffin recipes use a lot of sugar because muffins(and cake) use a lot of sugar, and I adjusted the recipe to have 1/4 cup less sugar. But if you don't have any bananas just leave it out, they'll be fine. 

ANYWAY...

zest the lemon

Squeeze half of the lemon into the milk in you are using this substitution

Set the milk aside to thicken

In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients and the lemon zest and mix with your hands 

And make a well in the center

Add all the wet ingredients, plus the banana, into the center

Gently mix together, leaving a few streaks of flour, as not to over mix

Add in the raspberries

Fold in the raspberries 

Put into a lined cupcake pan, fill cups 2/3-3/4 full.

Ok, nice

Now in a small bowl, combine the remaining flour, sugar, and butter with your fingers until it's crumbly 

Sprinkle over the top if the muffins

Bake at 375 degrees for 22-26 minutes 

Good morning. 

Baking 101 Rewind

Welcome back, old friend.  I'm revisiting my good buddy the Chocolate Chip Cookie.  Somedays I'm chewy; Somedays I'm crunchy.  This recipe goes way, way, way back.  I'm pretty sure it came from my elementary schools cookbook...? The original recipe is "Nick's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies" but I crossed out "Nick's" and replaced it with "mom's" because I don't know who Nick is.  This is my mom's favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  

This recipe is different from the previous recipe because...

DISCLAIMER:

I do not use margarine.  Ever.  Seriously.  Ever. It's gross, it doesn't even taste like butter, just use butter.  Please.  

...but this is the exception to that personal creed. 

Let's rendezvous with our old buddies 

1 cup softened margarine*

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 teaspoon milk

4 cups flour

1 bag(12oz) chocolate chips

 

*this is a sandy type of cookie so only certain margarines will work, Blue Bonnet and Imperial work the best

Mix the oil and margarine together

Good.  Add the vanilla, milk, and egg, mix well

Add the sugars

K!  Mix until fluffy

Niiiiice.

Gradually add the flour, maybe like a cup at a time, so 4 increments 

Ooooh so softly mixed :)

Fold in the chocolate chips 

Pretty!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

This recipe makes between 4 and 5 dozen cookies.  So I hope you have friends that like cookies.  

Using 1 - 2 tablespoon at a time, place on a lined or greased baking sheet about 2 - 3 inches apart...

...or you could be like me and make your cookies a bit larger and use 3 tablespoon scoops (hehehe)

Bake for 15 minutes for the larger cookies, 10-12 for the smaller cookies

Chomp, chomp, chomp.