Kaytucky Chicken

Here's another post that's been sitting on my computer for awhile. I made this before Christmas!

Source

It's called Kaytucky Chicken and it can be found on Kayotic Kitchen. I am always looking for new chicken recipes, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I mixed up the filling

Stuffed it in the chicken

Wrapped them up and baked them

Finished Product

The Verdict: It was alright. I don't fault the recipe for it not being better, I think it was more my fault. I didn't give the dough enough time to defrost so I tried to defrost in the microwave. That made it super hard to work for, so I wound up with tons of pastry around each piece of chicken. Also, I bought large chicken breasts in order to have room to stuff, but I think it ruined the chicken to filling ratio (too much chicken).

Things to Consider: I think I would attempt this again (although to be honest I haven't even thought about that in the 2 months since I tried it the first time). I would use smaller breasts though, and perhaps just wrap them around/fold them over the filling, Then wrap the whole thing in puff pastry (that's properly defrosted). I liked the flavors together, and the whole thing had potential, I just need to perfect my methods.

Kaytucky Chicken

From Kayotic Kitchen - she has some great pics of each step as well!

4 chicken fillets

4 frozen puff pastry sheets

4 oz cream cheese (the firm kind)

few rashes of bacon

flat-leaf parsley

1 spring onion

1 large egg

pepper

salt

Directions:

• Cook up your bacon (I used pre-cooked to save some time).
• Chop up spring onion and parsley.
• Add the spring onions, parsley, crumbled up bacon and a good pinch of pepper to 4 oz firm cream cheese.
• Mix it all up. Adding a little garlic, chili pepper and/or grated cheese also tastes great!
• Make a fairly deep cut in each chicken fillet. And spread 1/4 of the cream mixture in there.
• Place the chicken on top of the puff pastry, with the cream cheese side down. Season the chicken with a generous amount of salt and pepper.
• Beat a large egg, and brush a little on the edges of the puff pastry.
• Just fold them until you end up with small packages. The egg will function as a glue. Lightly brush the top of the puff pastry with the egg as well.
• Pop them in a preheated oven, and bake at 400F (200C) for 30 to 35 minutes.



Cake Batter Bars

Sorry for my lack of posts lately. I went back to work a couple weeks ago and sort of underestimated how little time I would have left to do things like blog or sleep. On top of that JJ got sick and there was some family stuff to take care of. Things are starting to settle down and I am getting into a "working mom" groove so hopefully I can get back to blogging more regularly.
Anyway, weeks ago, before the other sister went back to school after winter break, my brother and sister in law invited us over for dinner. Joe was actually away for work so JJ and I went alone. I decided to try these Cake Batter Bars I pinned from Lovin' From the Oven.

My partner in crime slept through most of it:

I followed the directions and mixed up the batter:

 Mixing in the sprinkles

Spreading it out

 After baking

Finished product

JJ woke up in the middle and decided to munch on his hands.



This proves how long ago this was - it was the night the Giants secured a place in the Superbowl - JJ was sporting his Giants shirt!

Verdict: I loved them. I love all things funfetti and they sort of tasted like a funfetti blondie (they had the consistency of brownies). I am not sure everyone else loved them, I think my brother called them "interesting" which usually means "gross". I would definitley try them again though - I thought they were great and were super easy to make.

Things to consider: For some reason the middle never really rose. I am not sure if I didn't leave them in long enough or that's how they were supposed to turn out. I like them anyway, like I said they had the consistency of brownies - moist in the middle. Not sure what to do with the left over cake mix either now. Perhaps find another recipe that uses it?

Cake Batter Bars

From Lovin' From the Oven

• 1 1/4 cup funfetti cake mix
• 3/4 cup AP flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 5 heaping tablespoons sprinkles of your choice (I used stars)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8 x 8 inch pan.
2. Cream both sugars, butter, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. 
3. Gradually mix in flour, cake mix, and baking soda until just mixed. Stir in sprinkles.
4. Spread batter evenly into greased pan.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes until top is lightly browned and middle still jiggles slightly. Cool completely before cutting.

Pudding Cookies

Last Sunday, I gave these pudding chocolate chip cookies a whirl.

Sunday Baker

I started by mixing up the dough.

And baked as directed.

Easy as that!

The Verdict:  I thought these cookies were delicious! They were some what drier then your normal chocolate chip cookie. They tasted a bit more like a scone but I really liked that. Also, they come out much puffier then your typical chocolate chip cookie. Their size and shape kind of reminded me of the puffy sugar cookies I made around Christmas time. For anyone having trouble making Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies, this might be the perfect dough to use – it won’t pancake out.

Things to Note/Consider: The original recipe called for 4 cups of chocolate chips (or whatever add in you wanted to use). I cut it down to 2 cups and I think it was perfect. I can’t imagine how I would have been able to incorporate another 2 cups of chocolate chips into the dough. Also, this recipe made a million cookies! The picture above is barely a quarter of the cookies it produced. I was bringing cookies into work for days – but I didn't hear any of my coworkers complaining. 

Pudding Cookies

adapted from Sunday Baker

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1-1/2 cups butter (3 sticks) softened

1-1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup white sugar

2 (3.4 oz.) pkgs. instant vanilla pudding

4 eggs, room temp

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Stir together flour and baking soda and set aside.
• In a large separate bowl, cream butter, brown and white sugar.
• Beat in pudding mix until well blended.
• Stir in the eggs and vanilla. When smooth, slowly add in the flour mixture. This can take a little while, but make sure it's well incorporated into mix.
• Add in chocolate chips.
• Roll the dough into balls and bake 8-12 minutes

Donut Muffins

This past weekend I was invited to enjoy brunch at my friend's house before we went on a Valentine’s Day Bar Crawl. I wanted to think of something cute to bring (in addition to the Prosecco for mimosas) and I came across this pin on Pinterest:

Macandcheesereview

I figured that this would be the perfect carby thing to eat before a bar crawl.

I was also excited to try this recipe because it finally gave me the opportunity to try this flex edge beater that Grace gave me for Christmas. It’s supposed to scrape the edges of the bowl so you don’t have to stop every so often and use a spatula.

I started by making the batter as directed.

See how the new KitchenAid attachment scraped the sides? It definitely made mixing the batter easier.

Then I went ahead and filled the muffin pan up 2/3 of the way.

Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes.

Once the muffins are cool, you can spread some melted butter on them and cover in sugar. Before I started this recipe, I read the comments on Macandcheese and a few people suggested to put some cinnamon into the sugar coating. I followed the advice and I think it added a little something.

The Verdict: Did they taste like donuts? Not really. But, they tasted alright. Personally, I thought they were a bit dry. Without the sugar coating, they would taste awful. Everyone at the brunch seemed to enjoy them. I don’t really eat fruit but my friends paired them with strawberries and said that the combination of the two was awesome! Also, they were super easy to make.

Things to Note/Consider: I would definitely follow the comments and add cinnamon to the sugar coating. Make sure you put the sugar coating on no more then a few hours before serving or else the sugar crusts up. Also, this recipe only makes 10 muffins. So if you’re having a large gathering, you’ll have to double it up. 

As a side note, my friends nicknamed these muffnuts and I thought that was hilarious.

Donut Muffins
adapted from Mac and Cheese Review

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Coating

2 tablespoons butter, melted (optional)

1/2 cup sugar

• Lightly grease a muffin tin with vegetable oil or spray.
• In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color. Add vegetable oil, milk, and vanilla to sugar mixture and combine.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Then pour into liquid mixture and stir to combine.
• Fill muffin cups 3/4 full, and bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Last weekend I gave these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes a try. 

 

KevinandAmanda

I started by making the cookie dough as directed on KevinandAmanda…

And put them in the freezer for 8 hours.

The source site said that since the main flavor of the cupcake is the cookie dough, that you can just use a standard box of Vanilla Cake mix, so that’s what I did.

I prepared as directed on the box and poured the batter in the pan.

Then I just plopped the frozen cookie dough on top of the cupcake batter.

Bake for 18-20 minutes at 350.

The cookie dough slides down to the bottom of the cupcake so you can’t even see it (for the most part)!

While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the cookie dough butter cream frosting.

Once the cupcakes are cool, frost and garnish with mini chocolate chips.

The Verdict: While the technique of making the eggless cookie dough, freezing and then plopping them in the cupcake batter was great; this particular recipe did not turn out so well for me. The cupcakes themselves felt like they were 10lbs each. They were what I like to call “lead sinkers.” The cookie dough portion was just so rich and heavy. I could barely eat one whole cupcake. The cupcake part was bland (probably because I used a box mix). However, the butter cream frosting was tasty.

Maybe I just made an error with the recipe (that’s always a possibility)? I think the problem can be pinpointed to my preparation of the cookie dough. Kevin and Amanda indicated for the frosting recipe and cupcake recipe to use light brown sugar. For the cookie dough recipe it just said brown sugar. I took that to mean dark brown sugar. Perhaps if I used light brown sugar, they would have been better?

Things to Note/Consider:  I honestly would make these again, using the following changes:  I’d start by making the cookie dough using the same recipe I used for the chocolate chip cookie dough truffles. I would also make sure to make the cookie dough balls much smaller. I’d then freeze the cookie dough overnight. Like I said earlier, the technique was awesome. I just didn’t like these particular recipes. For the cupcake portion, I would use the recipe that I used for the cannoli cupcakes. The butter cream frosting can be left alone.

I’ll try these again with my changes in a few weeks and let you know how they turn out!

Update: I tried making these cupcakes again with some tweaks. Check out the results!

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

This is just a quick little bonus post. These cookies aren’t really based on any pins but I guess you could say I took inspiration from this picture I’ve had pinned for a while. Although, my cookies came out nothing like this picture. I just don't have that skill level [yet].

Glorious Treats

I received this cute sugar cookie mix & cookie cutter as part of a Christmas present from my brother & sister in law and I’m just now getting around to making it. All I had to do was add one stick of butter and one egg! So easy!

I decided since it was February 1^st and close to 60 degrees here in Boston, that I would forgo the snowflake cookie cutter and make these into cute little Valentine’s Day treats. I didn’t want to jinx us and end up with snow the next day!

I had some heart cookie cutters and used the left over sprinkles I had from the cake pops to decorate. I still have plenty of sprinkles left over so I’ll have to think of something else to make for Valentine’s Day this week. Do sprinkles go bad? Can I save them for next year? I’ll have to Google that.

Aren’t they cute? The mix was super easy & quick too!

One of my many goals is to learn how to decorate cookies & cakes better. I guess I should start by purchasing some piping bags and tips!

*I attempted these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes earlier this week. I'll have a post later this weekend with my results and I have ALOT to say about them!