Remember

My country tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died!
Land of the Pilgrim's pride!
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring!

Many thanks to the servicemen and women who keep freedom alive in this wonderful country.

Wishing

Mother's Day is here early this year.  I'm hoping that I'll get one of these:

Silhouette SD

Fingers are crossed.



Now, what do I get for the Mother-in Law?

Springy Things

Have a blessed Easter and a very lovely spring!

Colorful Eggs

Chocolate!

Big Bowl o' Berries

Hot Cross Buns

Have a wonderful day!

Chocolate Passover Cookies

These may not look like much on the outside, but they more than make up for it in substance.  I mean, how can you go wrong with a cookie that has a full pound of chocolate in the recipe?  I was looking for something new to bake for my mother-in-law's Passover seder and I found just what I was looking for here, at Martha Stewart's site.  It looks like mine spread out a bit more than hers, but they were still yummy.  (I cheated on my diet a little bit and tried one...only one...OK, two.)  Luckily, I have Sweetpea and hubby around to polish off the left-overs.

Here are my notes for this recipe:

I used a #16 disher (1/4 cup ice-cream scoop) to portion out the dough.  I needed to use two baking sheets and baked no more than 9 cookies, staggered, on each sheet.  It made 16 cookies.

I whipped the whites to stiff peaks as indicated in the recipe.  Next time, I will try super-stiff peaks to see if that keeps them from spreading as much. 

I ended up needing to bake the cookies for 14 minutes, rather than the 10-12 called for in the recipe.  I use an oven thermometer, but I still usually need to bake for the longer times in most recipes.

I used Trader Joe's chocolate chips and their Pound-Plus Dark Chocolate Bar for the bittersweet chocolate called for in the recipe.

A Hard-Boiled Life

A couple of months ago, I started a little diet you may have heard of:  Atkins.  I've had to give up my beloved bread, cereal, muffins, cookies, cakes, rice, noodles, waffles, chips, potatoes, corn, carrots, and so on and so on.  One thing that I CAN have as much as I want of is eggs.  It's a good thing that I really like eggs, or I would be in some serious trouble.  So, being that I'm now an egg junkie of sorts, and that this week there will be millions of little kiddos dyeing their eggs random, unnatural colors, I though I would share my favorite way to turn out perfect hard-boiled eggs (no green ring around the yolk).

I use the method devised by the fine people at America's Test Kitchen:

Hard-Cooked Eggs

To center the yolks, turn the carton of eggs on its side in the refrigerator the day before you plan to cook the eggs.


Place eggs in a saucepan large enough to accommodate them, cover with 1 inch of water, and bring to boil over high heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with water and ice cubes. Pour off water from saucepan and gently shake pan back and forth to crack shells. Transfer eggs to ice water with slotted spoon and let cool 5 minutes.

Of course, if you're planning on dyeing the eggs, you won't want to crack the shells.  Just remove the eggs from the hot water to the ice water with tongs.

As for that diet, I've dropped 13lbs so far and I don't have that run-down feeling anymore that seemed to be a constant in my life.  I think I'll stick with it for now.

Passover Treats

My mother-in-law is Jewish and she puts on an amazing Passover seder every year.  I usually make my favorite Matzo Brittle to share.  In fact, I'm heating up the oven right now to make a batch.  I'm also going to try my hand at these Chocolate Passover Cookies from Martha Stewart this year.  I'll let you know how they turn out.

Cherry Cheesecake Cookies

A couple of people have asked me to post the recipe for these and, as they are too good not to share, I felt that I really needed to oblige them.  I was first enticed by these cookies in the December/January 2010 issue of Cook's Country magazine.  This recipe was also included in the America's Test Kitchen: Holiday Cookies special issue magazine (2010).  They were submitted by reader Stephanie Matthews from Tempe, AZ and were a finalist in a holiday cookie contest.  I am so glad (and you should be, too) that she didn't keep this gem of a recipe to herself.  I made them for a party and they were a definite hit- they taste exactly like cheesecake!

Cherry Cheesecake Cookies:

1. Combine 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl.  In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on med-high speed, beat 16 ounces softened cream cheese, 20 tablespoons softened butter, and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth and creamy (2 min).  Add 2 large eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla and mix until incorporated.  Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and mix until just combined.  Refrigerate dough until firm, at least 30 minutes.

2.  Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle position and heat oven to 350-degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Place 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (from 8 graham crackers) in a shallow dish.

3.  Roll chilled dough into 1-inch balls, then roll in crumbs.  Place balls 2-inches apart on prepared baking sheets.  Using a tablespoon measure, make an indentation in the center of each ball.  Place 3 cherries (from 3 cans cherry pie filling- drained*) in each indentation.  Bake until golden around the edges, 12 to 14 minutes, switching and rotating sheets half-way through baking.  Cool 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container up to 2 days**.

*I ended up only using 2 cans of pie filling, but mine were labeled "more fruit".  You may need the 3 cans called for in the magazine's recipe.

**I kept mine in the fridge and the texture didn't suffer.