Filled and Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookies

Preheat oven to 350F

Tools

Mini cupcake pan

Mixing bowls

Fork

Cake rack

spoon

2 pkg. of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

Cheese Filling

1 small pkg. (3 oz.) of cream cheese

3 oz. of white chocolate

1 tbl. butter

Melt these three ingredients together.  Mix well.  Allow to cool.

In a cupcake pan, line bottom of cupcake holes with cookie dough.   Add a tiny bit of the cheese filling.  Cover with another piece of cookie dough.  Bake for 15 minutes or until cookies are golden brown on top.  Cool.

Put wax paper under a cake rack.  Put cooled cookies on top of cookie rack.

Glaze

2 oz. of white chocolate

2 tbl. of butter

2 oz. of cream cheese

Nuke one minute, stir vigorously with a fork until the frosting is well blended and you have no lumps (you may need to add a little additional time in microwave).  Or, do in a mixing bowl over simmering water.

Cover the cookies with the glaze and allow to cool.

Deviled Eggs

Egg Preparation:


Put six to eight eggs in a pan and cover with cold water.  Bring water to a boil and allow to boil for five minutes.  Shut heat off and cover the pan.  Allow eggs to sit in the water bath for fifteen minutes.
Remove cover and add two cups of ice cubes.  Allow to rest for fifteen minutes or longer.  Peel eggs and slice them in half.

Filling:


Egg yolks
Poppy seeds (about a tablespoon)
1 can of deviled ham
Mayonnaise
1/2 cup of diced chives
6 oz. of bacon bits

In a large bowl, put all ingredients except mayonnaise.  Using a fork, break up egg yolks and mix with other ingredients.  Add two tbl. of mayonnaise.  Mix with fork.  Taste...if necessary, add more mayonnaise.  Refrigerate until serving time.

Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate ganache sounds fancy but is ridiculously easy to make and is the most versatile chocolate ingredient you can produce in your home kitchen.  It is like the glue that binds chocolate desserts together, making any chocolate dessert that much better.  My way of doing it is foolproof and requires no double boiler.  The key here is equal amounts of ingredients.  Since this is a base sauce, I do not add sugar.  Only add sugar if you are using it as a cake topping.  Otherwise, make this ahead of time and store in fridge (good shelf life) for making chocolate truffles, chocolate fondue, etc.  I use European chocolate.

Chocolate Ganache

4 oz. of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate

4 oz. of Nutella (Italian hazelnut spread, imported from Italy)

4 oz. of heavy cream, cold from fridge

Place the chocolate and Nutella in a deep glass bowl.  Nuke in increments of 30 seconds until chocolate is melted.  Add heavy cream and stir until you have a creamy chocolate sauce.  Use immediately to coat a cake or allow to cool and put it in a fridge container for future use.  Please note that occasionally I add two pats of butter depending upon what I’m using my ganache for and/or super fine sugar (no more than a tablespoon) or alternatively, corn syrup.

Apple Cobbler

Apple Cobbler

Preheat oven to 375F

8 x 8 baking dish    Take room temperature butter and grease the baking dish, then pour superfine sugar over the butter, coating the butter with sugar.  Excess sugar can be put in the apple mixture.

Apple filling:

6 to 8 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced

½ cup of melted butter

1 tbl. of molasses

2 tbl. of sugar

½ tsp. of cinnamon

½ tsp. of nutmeg (I use freshly grated nutmeg)

Juice of one lemon

In a glass mixing bowl, put butter, molasses, sugar and lemon.  Microwave this mixture and allow to cool.  When cooled, add sliced apples.  Stir generously and allow the apples to macerate for at least thirty minutes.

Topping:

1 and ½ cups of self-rising flour

½ cup of butter (at room temperature)

½ tsp. of cinnamon

½ tsp. of nutmeg

Pinch of salt

¼ cup of sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

In a separate mixing bowl, put flour and add dry ingredients.  Toss with a fork until well blended.  Add butter (not melted) and stir until you get a pebbly mixture.   Add egg and toss lightly.

Assembly:

Put apples in bottom of baking pan.  Dot with butter.  Add topping.  Bake for 30 to 45 minutes until topping is brown and you see the juices bubbling in the cobbler.