Citrus Soy Chicken Drumsticks

Tags

Asian, chicken, citus, lemon, orange, soy sauce

Happy Spring! Even though it’s felt like spring pretty much all winter, but that’s beside the point! Today is kind of a cold, overcast day for the first day of spring. Not really a barbecue sort of day, but perfect for baked chicken with a little citrus flair to brighten the day! The fun thing with drumsticks is that you get to use your hands, and really get into your food. 🙂 Plus, I personally prefer dark meat, which makes drumsticks that much better! This chicken has a nice Asian twist that combines soy sauce and sake along with ginger, garlic, and citrus. All in all, it makes for a nice, light chicken dish. I served these with garlic miso chicken as well, for a sort of drumstick sampler. I thought it made dinner a little more fun! 🙂Citrus Soy Chicken Drumsticks

8 chicken drumsticks (about 2 pounds)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
½ tablespoon garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup sake
¼ cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
¼ cup chopped green onions, for garnish

Rinse the chicken and dry with paper towels; place in a re-sealable plastic bag. In a small bowl, combine ginger, garlic, salt, sake, citrus juices, sugar, and soy sauce. Add marinade to the chicken and toss to coat. Marinade for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place drumsticks in a 13×9-inch baking dish, pouring marinade over the top. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked through, flipping chicken pieces halfway through baking. Serve immediately, sprinkling green onions over chicken.

Source: Adapted from Cooking Light

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Tags

St. Patrick's Day

Hi all! Just wanted to wish you a Happy St. Patty’s Day 🙂 And share with you a recipe that is perfect for this fun Irish holiday! This is actually the very first post I ever made on my blog, so sorry that this isn’t anything new! But like usual, I’m behind on my holiday baking… so this will have to do for now, until I get my St. Patty’s Day treats baked up. By the way, I’m totally bummed because I couldn’t find festive sprinkles at Target this year. They always have holiday sprinkles! But maybe I was just too late, because all I saw was Easter stuff… oh well, there’s always next year I guess. So anyways, if you’re looking for a delicious, alcoholic baked goodie to celebrate, check out these Chocolate Cupcakes with Baileys Buttercream. Delicious chocolate cupcakes brushed with Irish cream liqueur, topped with an Irish cream buttercream. You can even add Guinness to the cake batter, in place of water, to make them extra festive! Nothing says happy St. Patrick’s Day like some Irish alcohols!!!

Oatmeal Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tags

chocolate, cookies, oatmeal, toffee

Hello all! It’s been a while! Things got hectic and busy, and unfortunately cooking and baking were put on the back burner. It was a pretty boring week, food-wise, around here. What a sad sad week it was… hehe. But sometimes the cravings for cookies just hits, and it has to be satiated. This time, I was craving something with toffee. I’d had toffee bits laying around, waiting to be used, and they sounded really good at the time.After some browsing online for some inspiration, I decided to try toffee with oatmeal and chocolate chips. I was half expecting the recipe to completely fail, and I was just crossing my fingers for something edible to satisfy my craving! Boy, was I happy when I had delicious cookies coming out of my oven! These cookies are a great spur of the moment sort of thing. No creaming of butter and sugar required, just grab a spoon and start stirring, and you’ll have cookies in no time!  So, what are you waiting for? 🙂Oatmeal Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yield: 18 cookies

2 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup toffee bits

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugars by hand or with a mixer until thoroughly combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix slowly until just combined. Gently stir in the oats, then stir in chocolate chips and toffee bits.

Drop ¼ cup scoops of dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until edges are starting to harden and brown, but the center is still soft without being overcooked. Cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes then move cookies to wire racks to finish cooling.

Source: A Dash of Sugar and Spice original

Chicken and Dumplings

Tags

carrot, celery, chicken, dumplings, onion, soup, stew

The time change is this weekend, which means that spring is nearly upon us. Yet I’m still making soup, and I will continue probably through summer! But at least this soup isn’t a super heavy one, so it could work even in summer! I did make some tweaks to it, though, which is bound to happen after making it 3 times in a couple months. 🙂 The first time I tried making chicken and dumplings, it came out bland and not very good at all. I just assumed that’s how all chicken and dumplings must be, but boy was I wrong! This has definitely come to be one of my favorite soups (or stews… whatever you want to consider it), and I’m so glad I gave chicken and dumplings another chance.

Since I love to have leftovers, I found I needed to up the chicken broth or else it all got absorbed while sitting in the frig. And it never hurts to have some more broth in your soup! My husband and I also found the dumplings in the original recipe to taste a little off, so I went with my own favorite dumpling recipe. Of course, if you have your own, go ahead and use it. It will only make the soup taste that much better!Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken Stew:
3 pounds bone-in chicken thighs
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 small onions, chopped fine
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 3/4‑inch pieces
1 celery rib, chopped fine
¼ cup dry sherry
7 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Dumplings:
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons melted butter
¾ cup milk

To make the stew: Pat chicken thighs dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add chicken thighs, skin side down, and cook until skin is well browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Using tongs, flip chicken pieces and brown on second side, 5 to 7 minutes longer; transfer to large plate. Discard all but 1 teaspoon fat from pot.

Add onions, carrots, and celery to now-empty pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 7 to 9 minutes. Deglaze the pan with sherry, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot; stir in broth and thyme. Return chicken thighs, with any accumulated juices, to pot. Bring to simmer, cover, and cook until meat is cooked and tender, but still clings to bones, 45 to 55 minutes.

Remove pot from heat and transfer chicken to cutting board. Allow broth to settle 5 minutes, then skim fat from surface. When chicken is slightly cooled, remove and discard skin. Using fingers or fork, pull meat from chicken thighs and cut into 1‑inch pieces; return meat to pot.

To make the dumplings: Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add melted butter and milk and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated.

Return stew to simmer, stir in parsley, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Scoop dumpling batter by the rounded tablespoon over top of stew, spacing about ¼-inch apart. Wrap lid of Dutch oven with clean kitchen towel, keeping towel away from heat source, and cover pot. Simmer gently until dumplings have doubled in size and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 13 to 16 minutes. Serve immediately.

Source: Adapted from Annie’s Eats

Oreo Cupcakes

Tags

buttercream, chocolate, cupcake, oreo, Swiss meringue

Who loves making cupcakes just for the sake of making cupcakes? I do!! They’re just so yummy and fun to make! And there are so many different flavor combos to try. If I waited for special occasions to make cupcakes, I wouldn’t make them nearly as often as I’d like. Which means my friends and coworkers wouldn’t get to enjoy them, either! 🙂I’ve made these cupcakes a few times now, and have loved them every single time. Maybe I just love Oreos too much… but Oreos blended into frosting is just soooo good! And if you haven’t tried Swiss meringue buttercream yet, I highly recommend you try it, and soon. It’s creamy, light and fluffy, not overly sweet, and just oh so amazing. Placing an Oreo at the bottom of each cupcake adds a little extra surprise that everyone seemed to love! This devils food cupcake has also become my go-to chocolate cupcake. It’s the perfect texture and flavor. Now I just need to find a go-to vanilla cupcake! 🙂Oreo Cupcakes
Yield: 32 cupcakes

Cupcakes:
32 Oreo cookies
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon hot water
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup sour cream

Oreo buttercream:
24 Oreo cookies
5 egg whites
1½ cups granulated sugar
4 sticks butter, at room temperature

To make the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. Place an Oreo in the bottom of each cupcake liner.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water until smooth; set aside and let cool slightly. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly mix in the vanilla extract then the cocoa mixture, beating until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, beating until just combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling them about ¾ of the way full. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Oreo buttercream: In the work bowl of a food processor attached with the steel blade, blend the Oreo cookies until fine crumbs form; set aside.

Set a heatproof mixing bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture reaches 140 degrees F, or all sugar is dissolved and mixture is hot to the touch.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat on low speed for 2 minutes, gradually increasing to high speed. Beat until stiff peaks form and mixing bowl is cool to the touch. With the mixer on medium-low speed, gradually add a couple tablespoons of butter at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating on medium-high speed until thick and smooth. Add the Oreo crumbs and beat until fully incorporated. Switch to the paddle attachment and beat on low speed for 2 minutes to eliminate air bubbles. Spoon frosting into pastry bag fittind with large decorating tip. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.

Source: Adapted from Martha Stewart cupcakes and frosting