Pecan Pie Pop Tarts

Pecan Pie Pop Tarts

Frosted and sprinkled with pecans

Pecan Pie Pop Tarts

The Filling

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 large egg, beaten lightly
• 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon butter flavor/extract

Instructions:

• Make the filling at least 3 hours before planning to make the pop tarts because you want it to be as viscus as possible.
• In a medium size saucepan over medium-low heat, place the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and egg. Stir ingredients to incorporate and continue stirring while it cooks.
• Cook until the mixture comes to a gentle boil/simmer and thickens slightly. 
• Once it boils, remove from the heat and add the pecans along with the vanilla and butter flavor/extract. Stir completely.
• Transfer mixture to a heat-proof container (like a clean mason jar), allow to cool, and then refrigerate until needed.

The Crust

Ingredients:

• 200 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 32 grams cornstarch
• 30 grams powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 56 grams cold butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 90 milliliters cream

Instructions:

• In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Pulse a few times to blend the dry ingredients.
• Add the butter and pulse a few more times until you get a sandy-looking mixture with possibly a few small chunks of butter left.
• Pour in the cream and pulse a few times to disperse the cream. Then process for 30 to 60 seconds until the dough comes together and starts forming a ball, or at least cohesive chunks.
• Get a square piece of plastic wrap and set aside (you'll need two pieces of plastic wrap total).
• Weigh the dough and then divide into two equal portions.
• Working with one half of the dough at a time on the plastic wrap, pat into a ball, and then flatten the sides of the ball to sort of form a dough cube.
• Flatten the cube while trying to maintain the square shape as much as possible. 
• Once it's about 1/2 inch thick, place onto the plastic wrap and try to neatly fold the dough into the plastic wrap so you get squared off corners with the plastic wrap.
• Gently use a rolling pin to roll the dough in the plastic wrap so the dough squishes into the corners. It probably won't create a perfect square, but the more square you can get it now, the easier the rolling will be later.
• Repeat with the other half of the dough.
• Place dough in the refrigerator for about an hour, or up to 2 days.

The Pop Tarts

Ingredients:

• 1 batch (in 2 pieces) pop tart dough (see above)
• 1 cup (approximately) pecan pie filling
• 90 grams powdered sugar
• 3-4 teaspoons water, plus more for sealing pop tarts
• 2 tablespoons crushed toasted pecans and or 2 tablespoons crushed toffee bits

Equipment:

• baking sheet
• parchment paper 
• rolling pin
• stiff ruler, plastic or metal
• pizza cutter
• fork
• knife or offset spatula
• small pastry brush
• whisk

Instructions:

• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature 5-10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Lightly dust your rolling surface with flour, and turn out one of your dough pieces. Flour your rolling pin and gently swat the dough to soften it up--tap a few times in each direction side to side, top to bottom, and diagonally both ways. Turn the dough over and swat it on that side too.
• Start rolling the dough out into a rectangle and about 1/8" or 2 mm thickness, keeping the corners as square as possible. If the dough is cracking a lot, let it sit a few more minutes to soften before continuing to roll.
• Using the ruler and the pizza cutter, cut the edges of the dough to make a clean-looking rectangle, preserving as much area as possible. You can bake off the scraps later or throw them away.
• Measure the height and width of the sheet of dough and divide by 3. Then cut into 9 rectangles that are as equally sized as possible. Move the rectangles to the parchment-lined baking sheet and set aside.
• Repeat the swatting and rolling with the second piece of dough, going just a little bit thinner to make a slightly larger rectangle. Repeat the measuring and cutting as well.
• Using a floured fork, carefully poke holes into each piece of top crust.
• Get your pecan pie filing, and using a spoon or offset spatula, spread about 2 to 3 teaspoons of filling onto the pieces of dough on the pan. Leave at least a quarter inch around the edge clear of filling. Repeat with remaining bottom crusts.
• Using the pastry brush and water, lightly moisten the edges of dough around the filling. 
• Place a top crust onto each of the bottom ones, gently pressing the edges together. Once you've done this with all of the pop tarts, dip a fork in flour and crimp all of the edges of each pop tart.
• (If you're using crushed toffee for the topping, lightly brush the top crusts with water and sprinkle evenly with crushed toffee.)
• Bake at 375 degrees for 15-17 minutes, or until edges are starting to brown.
• Move pop tarts to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Once pop tarts are completely cool, whisk the 90 grams powdered sugar with 3 teaspoons water. Add the last teaspoon of water if the mixture is too thick and/or dry. This mixture should not be runny. 
• Using an offset spatula or a knife, spread about a teaspoon of frosting onto each pop tart and then immediately sprinkle with crushed pecans, if desired. 
• Allow frosting to set before enjoying.
• Eat or freeze within 3 days.
• Only toast the pop tarts if you do not frost them. This frosting will burn in a toaster.

Here's a video of how I made cherry pop tarts. Same basic process applies with the Pecan Pie Pop Tarts. 

The filling

Topped with crushed toffee bits

Corn Salad

My good friend Amy made this for us one summer evening, and my husband who doesn't really go out of his way for veggies LOVED it. (I know corn is more of a grain than a vegetable, but we grew up in the 70s and our moms counted it as a vegetable.)

It's a light, refreshing, and flavorful salad. I still need to perfect it, but since I keep going back to my texts to get the recipe, I'm finally committing it to the blog. I'll try to remember to make changes here as I adjust the recipe. What Amy sent me was not an exact recipe, so the way I quantified it here is me ballparking it.

Corn Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 large corn cobs, grilled & cooled/refrigerated 
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 1/3 cup finely diced red onion
• 2-3 tablespoons fresh finely diced jalapeño pepper
• 1/4 cup (or so) cilantro, chopped
• juice of one small lemon
• 1/2 to 1 tsp salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder

Instructions:

• (Watch this video if you want to see how one person grills corn.)
• Carefully cut the corn kernels from the cob and place in a large bowl. (Watch this video for corn cutting tips.)
• Add the rest of the ingredients, starting with only 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix thoroughly.
• Taste to see if you want to add more salt (or any other ingredient). 
• Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes about 6-8 cups of corn salad.

Homemade Pop Tarts

Homemade Sour Cherry Pop Tarts

I think my quest to make homemade pop tarts began when my [imaginary] friendship with Claire Saffitz began. This was when I discovered Claire's videos on the Bon Appetit YouTube channel, and she made an episode on making gourmet Pop Tarts.

The strawberry pop tarts I made using that recipe actually turned out strange and greasy. I must have done something wrong because Claire's didn't look like that. They looked precise, flaky, and perfect. Mine, not so much. 

Then a month ago I went to breakfast with some friends and had the restaurant's homemade key lime pop tart, and that was also quite greasy, and frankly, not tasty.

Since I had so much sour cherry jam on my hands because of my front yard cherry tree's excessive production this year, I thought I'd try making pop tarts again, but with a more "traditional" pop tart crust, like the ones we get in the blue box. 

In Jennie's Kitchen had just what I was looking for: kind of a dry, tender crust. The original recipe calls for twice the amount of powdered sugar you see below, but I'm more of a savory person, so I did what you see. If you like more sweetness, go for the full 60 grams of powdered sugar.

This recipe calls for a food processor, but I'm sure it would work by hand using a pastry blender and some elbow grease. 

What I have ended up with are fantastic pop tarts that are getting rave reviews from friends and colleagues. Hopefully I'll be posting more variations soon, along with a TikTok. I actually recorded videos for the TikTok but broke the process up too much and realized I need to not do that. 

At any rate, if you're hankering to make your own pop tarts, try this recipe out. I think you'll be pleased.

Note: I've included my TikTok video showing my Pop Tart making process at the end of the recipe below.

Pop Tarts

     --Adapted from InJenniesKitchen.com

The Crust

Ingredients:

• 200 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 32 grams cornstarch
• 30 grams powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 56 grams cold butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 90 milliliters cream

Instructions:

• In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, cornstarch, powdered sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Pulse a few times to blend the dry ingredients.
• Add the butter and pulse a few more times until you get a sandy-looking mixture with possibly a few small chunks of butter left.
• Pour in the cream and pulse a few times to disperse the cream. Then process for 30 to 60 seconds until the dough comes together and starts forming a ball, or at least cohesive chunks.
• Get a square piece of plastic wrap and set aside (you'll need two pieces of plastic wrap total).
• Weigh the dough and then divide into two equal portions.
• Working with one half of the dough at a time on the plastic wrap, pat into a ball, and then flatten the sides of the ball to sort of form a dough cube.
• Flatten the cube while trying to maintain the square shape as much as possible. 
• Once it's about 1/2 inch thick, place onto the plastic wrap and try to neatly fold the dough into the plastic wrap so you get squared off corners with the plastic wrap.
• Gently use a rolling pin to roll the dough in the plastic wrap so the dough squishes into the corners. It probably won't create a perfect square, but the more square you can get it now, the easier the rolling will be later.
• Repeat with the other half of the dough.
• Place dough in the refrigerator for about an hour, or up to 2 days.

The Pop Tarts

Ingredients:

• 1 batch (in 2 pieces) pop tart dough (see above)
• 3/4 to 1 cup fruit jam
• 90 grams powdered sugar
• 3-4 teaspoons water, plus more for sealing pop tarts
• food color (optional)
• sprinkles (optional)

Equipment:

• baking sheet
• parchment paper 
• rolling pin
• stiff ruler, plastic or metal
• pizza cutter
• fork
• knife or offset spatula
• small pastry brush
• whisk

Instructions:

• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature 5-10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Lightly dust your rolling surface with flour, and turn out one of your dough pieces. Flour your rolling pin and gently swat the dough to soften it up--tap a few times in each direction side to side, top to bottom, and diagonally both ways. Turn the dough over and swat it on that side too.
• Start rolling the dough out into a rectangle and about 1/8" or 2 mm thickness, keeping the corners as square as possible. If the dough is cracking a lot, let it sit a few more minutes to soften before continuing to roll.
• Using the ruler and the pizza cutter, cut the edges of the dough to make a clean-looking rectangle, preserving as much area as possible. You can bake off the scraps later or throw them away.
• Measure the height and width of the sheet of dough and divide by 3. Then cut into 9 rectangles that are as equally sized as possible. Move the rectangles to the parchment-lined baking sheet and set aside.
• Repeat the swatting and rolling with the second piece of dough, going just a little bit thinner to make a slightly larger rectangle. Repeat the measuring and cutting as well.
• Using a floured fork, carefully poke holes into each piece of top crust.
• Get your fruit jam, and using a spoon or offset spatula, spread about 2 to 3 teaspoons of jam onto the pieces of dough on the pan. Leave at least a quarter inch around the edge clear of jam. Repeat with remaining bottom crusts.
• Using the pastry brush and water, lightly moisten the edges of dough around the jam. 
• Place a top crust onto each of the bottom ones, gently pressing the edges together, taking care not to squeeze out any jam. Once you've done this with all of the pop tarts, dip a fork in flour and crimp all of the edges of each pop tart.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 15-17 minutes, or until edges are starting to brown.
• Move pop tarts to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Once pop tarts are completely cool, whisk the 90 grams powdered sugar with 3 teaspoons water. Add the last teaspoon of water if the mixture is too thick and/or dry. This mixture should not be runny. Whisk in food coloring, if desired.
• Using an offset spatula or a knife, spread about a teaspoon of frosting onto each pop tart and then immediately apply sprinkles, if desired. 
• Allow frosting to set before enjoying.
• Eat or freeze within 3 days.
• Only toast the pop tarts if you do not frost them. This frosting will burn in a toaster.

Makes 9 pop tarts

Shortbread

Classic Shortbread

If you've ever watched Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso, you're familiar with Ted's shortbread in the little pink boxes. Now that the series is over, I'm finally getting around to making the recipe I found on Instagram that supposedly comes from Apple TV+ via Emmy Magazine. Although I was unable to locate the recipe at the Emmy Magazine website, I found it in several other places.

I've made this recipe twice so far. The first time I followed the recipe almost exactly, but the shortbread was underbaked, in my opinion. The edge pieces turned out nice, but the center ones were too soft. Not terrible, but soft. 

The second time around that you see pictured here, I baked the shortbread sticks a second time after I had removed them from the pan and separated them from each other. This ensured all pieces were crisp with a nice browned butter flavor. Mmmm. I've already eaten too many of these.

I also decided to sprinkle the tops with a little bit of granulated sugar because I thought it would look nice and add just a tad more sweetness. I think it was a good call.

Also, many recipes I've seen for shortbread call for vanilla, but I think that distracts from the butter flavor, so if you're thinking of adding vanilla I recommend at least trying these without vanilla first, and then see if you think they need that extra flavor for your taste. Do what you have to, and enjoy.

Shortbread 

      --Adapted from the Today Show and Delish.com (Actually, it's all over the internet.)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter (somewhat softened, but still cool)
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar

Instructions:

• Line a square 8"x8" pan with parchment paper.
• Add the butter to a medium-large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat the butter for 3-5 minutes until light. Stop the mixer once or twice to scrape down sides of bowl.
• Gradually add the powdered sugar into the sugar with the mixer on low. Once powdered sugar is incorporated, beat on high until pale and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl once or twice.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour and kosher salt with a whisk, and then add to the butter/sugar mixture. Mix on low, and then on medium, just until it comes together. You do not want to over beat the dough and develop gluten. 
• Move the dough to the prepared pan. Using your finger tips, press the dough evenly into the pan, making the edges as neat as possible.
• Place the pan in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 310 degrees F. 
• Remove pan from the refrigerator, and using a sharp knife, cut dough into 7 or 8 long strips. Then cut two lines perpendicular to the others to create three even columns, each containing 7 or 8 rectangles. (Be careful to not cut into the parchment paper,)
• Use a toothpick or wooden skewer to poke about 8 holes into each rectangle.
• Put pan in oven and bake for 50 minutes at 310 degrees F. 
• After 50 minutes, remove the pan from the oven. Re-cut the lines, being careful to not cut all the way through the parchment paper, and then sprinkle the granulated sugar all over the top of the cut shortbread.
• Lift the shortbread out by lifting the parchment paper, and place it on a baking sheet. Using the knife, gently separate the shortbread into its individual pieces, leaving about a quarter inch between pieces. 
• Return the shortbread to the oven (on the baking sheet this time) and bake at 310 degrees F for another 10-15 minutes, or until shortbread looks a little dryer and slightly more browned than before.
• Allow shortbread to cool completely before enjoying.

Makes 21 to 24 servings

Banana Nut Bread II

 

Somehow I ended up with loads of super ripe bananas in my kitchen this weekend, so I decided to take my favorite pumpkin bread recipe and modify it for bananas. Since the bananas were so ripe and sweet, I cut back on the sugar, and I also cut back on the water in the recipe because it seemed like the original 2/3 cup would be too much. I subbed vanilla for the fall spices, and you know what? This is now my favorite banana bread recipe.

I don't know if it's the combination of white and brown sugar, or just the balance of all the ingredients, but this is just a good, solid, sweet banana bread. 

Feel free to leave the nuts out if it's not your thing. It will be just as delicious.

Banana Nut Bread II


INGREDIENTS 

• 15 oz mashed (very) ripe banana (I actually weighed mine)
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
• Butter and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
• In a large bowl, mix together mashed banana, eggs, oil, water, vanilla and sugars until well blended. 
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 
• Stir the dry ingredients into the banana mixture until just blended. 
• Fold in the nuts.  
• Pour into the prepared pans.
• Bake for about 50-60 minutes in the preheated oven. 
• Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  
• Wrap tightly in aluminum foil and freeze what you won't eat in two days.

Makes three medium loaves

My pan must not have been level.

Oatmeal Cream Pies -- Vegan & Gluten-Free

Oatmeal Cream Pies

I am a little bit obsessed with Thistle's Summit Bakery's oatmeal pies. I can get them at my favorite coffee shop, The Slow Down Coffee Company here in Des Moines, but what I really want to do is crack the recipe so I can make them on my own. 

The oatmeal cookie has this certain flavor that I can't quite put my finger on. I can't tell if it's just slightly saltier than your average oatmeal cookie, or if there's a molasses flavor--or it's probably just a perfect balance of all the flavors. The texture is perfect too, though--not too soft and squishy, and not too crisp. Just nice and chewy. The oatmeal pie filling is so nice too. It feels cool on my tongue, and not overly sweet. It's all really cookie perfection, which is surprising coming from me because I'm both a huge chocolate fan AND a cookie snob.

At any rate, I've been taking some of my "failed" attempts to work, and people seem to love them. I suspect when you place a creamy sugary filling between any two cookies, you're likely to get positive reviews. Just a hypothesis that I'll probably continue to test in the coming months as I pursue perfection of this recipe.


Oatmeal Cream Pies

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (I use Better Batter Original Blend)
• 3 cups uncooked rolled oats
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (I use Morton's)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 scant teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 sticks vegan butter (I used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks)
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup mashed unripe banana (Use ripe bananas for more banana flavor.)

Filling Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
• 2 1/2 cups (about 10 oz.) powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 2-3 tablespoons oat milk

Instructions:

• In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir to combine and set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, cream the vegan butter, sugar and molasses. Add the vanilla and mashed bananas.
• Stir in the dry ingredients to incorporate. 
• Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
• Scoop about 2 tablespoons (I used a cookie scoop) and flatten slightly so you end up with a disk that's about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and about a half inch thick.
• Place prepared dough disks onto a wax paper or parchment lined pan/container that you can refrigerate or freeze.
• When all dough has been scooped, you can refrigerate for a few days or freeze.

• When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Place cookie dough onto prepared baking sheet, allowing about 1 1/2 to 2 inches between dough disks.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 13-15 minutes, depending on how soft you like your cookies. 
• Remove from oven and allow to cool about 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
• When cookies are cool, prepare filling by creaming together the vegetable shortening, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons oat milk. If the filling seems too stiff, add a little more oat milk, taking care not to overdo it. Continue to mix until very smooth and creamy.

• Build cookie sandwiches by scooping about 1 tablespoon of filling onto the bottom of one cookie and then top with another. Squish together carefully until filling is almost to the edge.

• Store oatmeal pies in an airtight container.

Makes about 20-22 cookie sandwiches

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gooey Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lately I've gotten into this habit of watching mostly cooking Youtube videos in the morning before and after my morning spinning bike workout. I'll start a video while I do my arm/shoulder physical therapy exercises, and then I'll turn on my spinning workout video. My treat for my post-workout cooldown is finishing the video. 

This past week I tumbled down a New York City chocolate chip cookie Youtube rabbit hole, and discovered Cupcake Jemma, a delightful baker based in the UK. (Check out the Crumbs & Doilies Bakery website here.) There were two things about the two Cupcake Jemma videos I watched that struck me. The first is this recipe that I've tweaked a bit here by adding vanilla and decreasing the size of each cookie by half (I mean, I'm not a baker selling these things--just an average home baker who actually eats and shares them.) 

The second thing that struck me is the mixing method they used for these cookies and in their rendition of Levain's famous NYC Chocolate Chip Cookie. Rather than creaming the butter and sugars, adding eggs & vanilla,  adding all the dry ingredients, and then adding the chocolate chips as most cookie recipes call for, Cupcake Jemma barely mixes the butter and sugars, adds the chocolate chips, then the dry ingredients and lastly the eggs. What the...? 

Sounded so crazy to me, but the results don't lie. These chocolate cookies are gooey, tender, flavorful, and just perfectly satisfying. I may be obsessed.

The first batch I made were just half-sized versions of Cupcake Jemma's, but they failed to spread at all and remained kind of ball-shaped, which wasn't very attractive (see pic below). So I did what any other obsessed person would do and I almost immediately made another batch. This time I flattened each ball just a bit, and decreased my baking time a bit. The cookies came out attractive AND delicious. Perfect. 

Now here's the recipe for you to go and try yourself. 

You're welcome.

Gooey Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
     --Adapted from Cupcake Jemma's Recipe

Ingredients: 

• 230 g unsalted butter, cold, cut into tablespoon size chunks
• 160 g granulated sugar
• 160 g brown sugar
• 450 g dark chocolate chips (I love Nestle's Dark Chocolate Morsels)
• 200 g walnut pieces (optional)
• 430 g all purpose flour
• 70 g cocoa powder (preferably Dutch process)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs plus 1 yolk, beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

• NOTE: See images below instructions for visuals of the various stages of this dough mixing process.

• In the bowl of a standing mixer, place the cold butter and mix on low for about a minute, just to break up the butter--do not cream the butter.
• Add the granulated and brown sugar to the butter and mix again on low/medium low until little nuggets of butter & sugar form--again, do not cream this mixture.
• Add the chocolate chips and walnuts (if desired), and mix again just to incorporate the chocolate chips and nuts.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir with a whisk until completely mixed. 
• Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/chocolate/nuts mixture in the mixing bowl and mix on low until combined, about 30-45 seconds. It will still be dry and sandy looking.
• Add the vanilla to the egg mixture and then add that to the mixture. Mix on low/medium low until dough starts to come together, but do not mix long enough to create a completely cohesive dough.
• Using a large cookie scoop or a large spoon, make 60 gram balls of dough. Then flatten each ball into a disk that's about an inch thick.
• Cover and freeze dough disks at least 90 minutes before baking.

• Preheat oven to 360 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place in the oven to get hot while the oven preheats.
• When pan and oven are heated, remove the pan from the oven, place frozen dough disks on pan allowing a couple of inches between them.
• Bake at 360 degrees for about 14-15 minutes, until puffed and starting to crack. Take care to not over-bake. Underbaked is better than over-baked.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet at least five minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. Alternately, if you have a rimless baking sheet, you can slide the parchment with the baked cookie sheets onto a cooling rack to cool until ready to eat, about 5-10 minutes. This is what I try to do so the cookies will not continue to bake on the hot baking sheet.

• Place unbaked dough disks in a zip top freezer bag and store in the freezer until you want more cookies. 
• Store baked and cooled cookies in an airtight container.
• Heat cooled cookies in the microwave on high for 10 seconds if you want to melt the chocolate and make the insides gooey again.

Makes about 30 cookies

Dough disks ready for the freezer.

See the difference between the flattened version and the ball?

Pizza Sauce -- Quick and Easy

Easy peasy pizza sauce

After years of using mediocre store-bought pizza sauce for my homemade pizza, I finally searched up and found an easy, delicious option for homemade sauce. I kind of like my pizza sauce to be a little thick, so I looked for a recipe that included tomato paste, and found this recipe pretty quickly on JoyFoodSunshine.com. That recipe does not involve fresh garlic or any cooking, but I really wanted an intense garlic element, so I tweaked the recipe a bit.

Depending on how much red pepper flake you put in, you can make this pretty spicy. The half-teaspoon called for in my rendition below gives it just a small kick that I don't think will be too much for sensitive folks, but put in less if that's your preference.

I had the Orlondo's Pizza Spice on hand, and I realize now it's kind of a local thing. So, if you don't have that or anything like it, go to JoyFoodSunshine.com and check out the ingredients they have there for the original recipe of this sauce. I think you could also use "Italian spice" and augment with basil, parsley, and fennel seed, since that's what is listed on Orlondo's bottle (see pic below).

Overall, I consider this pizza sauce a win, and it's now my go-to sauce for homemade pizza night at my house. It's flavorful, just the right viscosity and spice. I keep the leftovers in my fridge and one batch covers about six 12-inch pizzas, which covers 2 different pizza nights at my house.

So, it's a winner in my book. Give it a try.

Pizza Sauce

  -- Adapted from JoyFoodSunshine.com

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons pizza seasoning (I used Orlondo's Pizza Spice)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 can tomato paste (6 oz)
• 1 can tomato sauce (15 oz)
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Instructions:

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic, pizza seasoning, oregano, onion powder, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook for about 30-45 seconds before adding the tomato paste. 

Stir in the tomato paste to incorporate, and then stir in the tomato sauce.

Turn heat to medium low and cook until bubbles start to pop through and sauce is very hot, but not boiling.

You can allow the sauce to sit & cool in the pan while you prep the other ingredients for pizza, or you can transfer it directly to a glass container (like a Mason jar), cover, and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

Use as you would any other pizza sauce.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups sauce

Orlondo's Pizza Spice Ingredients:
basil, parsley, fennel seed, Italian spices