Mozzarella Sticks (9-17-11)

While on Pinterest.com, I found a great picture of mozzarella sticks. Someone had written underneath about baking them instead of frying them. So, I followed the original link to here to get the initial set of ingredients.  Then, I did various browsing online to find out how to bake similar items.  Since it was a lot of browsing and random clicking, I don't have the original link, so bear with me.  Although - to be honest, the fried sticks tasted better.  Just sayin'!

Ingredients:
~ 12 pieces string cheese
~ 12 egg roll wrappers (OK. Side note here... I spent FOR-EV-ER (in my world. To most people, this would be more like 2-3 weeks) trying to find these in the freezer section like all the stupid websites said it would be in... No.  They were by the tofu in the produce section.)
~ Cooking spray
~ Egg for sealing the egg roll wrappers (although water works just as good.  Save the egg for a cake! LOL  I read that the egg would be better at sealing the egg roll wrapper... Let's see how well that works!)

First, prep the items... Line the cookie tray with foil and spray with cooking spray.  If necessary, unwrap the string cheese.  Mix up the egg.

Next, roll up your cheese sticks.  I had them on a piece of wax paper.  Be sure to moisten some paper towels to lay over the open egg roll wrapper package. (Side note: To preserve the egg roll wrappers if you do not use all of them, wrap them in a moist paper towel to keep them from drying out and put them in a Ziplock bag.  They will stay good for about 2 weeks.)  Don't forget to tuck in the sides!!  And at the end, use your egg wash or water along the tip before pressing it against the stick. It will (in theory) help it stay closed.

Spray the top of the sticks quick with your cooking spray and put in the oven at 400 for 15 min... Or not...

I ended up pulling mine out after about 10 minutes I believe.  This is why:

Yes.  The cheese erupted.  Which is why I questioned the "sealing power" of the egg wash.  But, alas, it did not stop me from eating it with some yummy pizza sauce (OK... I know it's usually marinara sauce, but the pizza sauce in the squeezy bottle is just so much fun!!).

Update: On 10-9, I tried the frying idea...  I wrapped the cheese sticks up the same as before, using water to seal.  Then I put it in a pan of hot oil (I'm very proud of myself - this was only the second time I've done something like that!  And this time, I didn't try to throw the food in from like a foot away!).  Roll them around every few seconds so that they are equally browned, and then pull them out (after probably 60 seconds total) and put them on some paper towels to help absorb the oil.  The cheese tried sneaking out of a few of them, but I grabbed them out in time.  My hubby was very impressed by the frying skills!!  I may try that again some time!!  They tasted super yummy!!  It's amazing what happens when the cheese stays in the wrapper!  :-)

Skip the baking. Go for the frying!!  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Pizza Muffins (9-17-11)

Oh yes! You read that right! PIZZA MUFFINS!!!  As I've mentioned before, I've become quite addicted to a site called Pinterest.com.  It can be very inspirational, and I decided that I was going to stop browsing and put a few things into action!!  These are really easy to make and can easily be done with children!!  The original post can be found here.

First, get the ingredients together...
~ Cooking spray
~ 1 Tube of refrigerator biscuits (like the original poster, I used Reduced Fat Grands. You won't want to use a "Flaky Layer" type biscuit)
~ Pizza Sauce (I used a squeeze bottle...less waste and easy to manipulate)
~ Mozzarella cheese (I used sliced)
~ Pepperoni slices (or whatever you want for a topping, but keep in mind that you don't have a ton of room!)

Preheat the oven to 375 and coat the muffin tray with your spray.

Undo the biscuits (be careful... I don't care if they fixed it so it doesn't pop on it's own... When I poked it open and it popped, it still startled me! LOL).  Cut each biscuit in half (suggestion - go the long ways - from side to side...not from top to bottom.  Then, it is already in a round shape...or...at least... it should be. May help to not use a chopping knife for it as well. That tends to eliminate the round shape. *cough* Oops! LOL).

Now, pull the biscuit half into a large circle.  I found it to be easiest to turn it on the side so I could pull straight down.  Work with gravity.  It will save on the frustration.

Now, you are going to start making the biscuits.
1 - Line the muffin cup with your pulled dough circle.  It is best if you have enough that it can drape over the edge/onto the top of the tray... Otherwise, you are fighting gravity again if you don't work fast enough... the dough will slide right down!
2 - Pour a little bit of sauce in.  Just enough to fill the bottom about 1/4-1/2 inch.
3 - Sprinkle in some cheese!!
4 - Put your topping in.
5 - Sprinkle just a bit more cheese for good measure.
6 - You'll have a beautiful tray of pizza muffins!  Note that there are only 8 biscuits in a tube.  So for some, instead of having biscuit halves to waste, I just put an entire biscuit in the muffin cup.  Makes it a bit more cramped, but still do-able.

Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.  You'll want to let them cool a bit (I can't be held responsible for others burning their mouths... I don't even like taking responsibility when I do it to myself! LOL), but this definitely isn't a "freeze-until-later" type of meal.

1 - Done in the pan!
2 - They pop right out!!
3 - BEA-U-TI-FUL bottom!!!  Nothing burned!  SCORE!!!!
4 - Yummy inside!!  (But be careful... The sauce at the bottom tends to like to spurt out at you. Not that my hubby and I would know! *cough* LOL)

Update: On 10/9, I used a large muffin tin (like this one: Baker's Secret Basics Nonstick 6-Cup Texas Muffin Pan) and put an entire biscuit in each cup.  I think I'll do it this way in the future.  It made it seem a bit less "bite-size" and more of a nice snack.

1 - Nice in the pan!
2 - Still turned out fantastic on the crust! YAY!
3 - And still super yummy on the inside!!

I definitely will not be losing this recipe!!! HIGHLY recommend for a movie day!!

Raisin Snickerdoodles (9-17-11)

This is an alternative to the previous Snickerdoodle Cookie post.  After I made the Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies, my hubby asked if I could make Raisin Snickerdoodles... So... here are the short notes for them!

Have your 16.5 oz roll of refrigerator sugar cookie dough sliced up.  I also had about 1 cup of raisins and the 1/3 cup sugar (Splenda in our case), 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon nutmeg blend (i.e. "Snickerdoodle Spices").

To blend the raisins into the cookie dough, I just grabbed a bunch and smooshed it into the dough (yes - "smooshed"... We get real technical here at Nifty Novice! LOL).

Roll each one up into a ball, roll it into the "Snickerdoodle Spices" and place on your sprayed pan about 2 inches apart.  You'll notice 2 cookies on the far left side of the picture... My hubby asked me to put some coconut flakes on there, hoping the toasted coconut would taste real good...

Baked at 350 for 10-13 min until golden brown... Although... I couldn't really tell about the edges of the cookies... Since it turned into one huge cookie!

It did, however, split up easy enough to go on the cooling rack.

The toasted coconut didn't turn out quite as he had hoped.  There was a bit of a toasted coconut taste to it, but not quite enough.  Maybe next time, I'll give him a bit more coconut. ;-)

The cookies actually tasted pretty good.  I just wish there was a way to get them to hold their shape like the Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies did... I'll have to figure out what the deal is with that.  And, while the "Snickerdoodle Spices" tasted ok, I think we'll skip them next time and just have raisin cookies.  (But, check out the bottom of that cookie!!  PERFECTION AGAIN!!!)

We're getting a bit more creative... Definitely getting interesting!  LOL

Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies (9-10-11)

Here is another recipe from the wonderful book: The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book - Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ingredients:
1 16.5oz Roll of Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
1/2 teaspoon Gound Cinnamon
1 Cup Raisins

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Break up your cookie dough into little pieces in a bowl and let it sit out for 10-15 minutes to soften.  Although, I'm not sure it really needs that much time... You're going to be working the dough, so use your best judgement...and listen to your tummy... Your tummy will tell you when it's time to move on! ;-)

Stir in the cinnamon and raisins!  And if a few extra raisins pop in, hey... I won't tell a soul!  ;-)

OK.  Now you can either mix it with a mixer (paddle attachment!), wooden spoon, or the Nifty Novice way - gloved hands!!  Get in there!!  FEEL THE DOUGH!!!!!  Connect with your inner child!!  You know you wanna!!

When it's all mixed, you should have a nice, moist hunk of dough.

Take a spoon and spoon out your cookie servings.

Roll that teaspoon amount of dough into a ball (or, in my case, an oval-shaped hunk of dough)!!!

Put them on the sprayed pan 2 inches apart.  (Ignore the previous burnt cookie stains that show up so stinkin' well in this picture.  I'm a little bitter from that excursion of my hubby's... He's still not allowed to touch the tray! LOL)

Bake for 10-13 minutes or until just set and golden at edges.  However, apparently, my view of "golden at edges" is a bit off...

I was happy they didn't expand as much as the refrigerated sugar cookie dough... I wouldn't say it was incredibly tasty... It lasted a few days here...and that's a long time for us!  Oh... and... ummmmm... raisins and chocolate...not a real swell idea to overindulge on both at the same time.  Just trust me.

As you can see though, the instructions are SO incredibly easy!!  And I was so happy that it didn't involve crazy ingredients!!  I may actually try it again, but maybe leave it in the oven a little bit less...

Sorry!!

Hi, everyone!

I just wanted to post a quick apology for my absence. I had gotten very into Pinterest.com (many of my upcoming ideas are from there!), and then started doing mystery shopping... So unfortunately, while I was taking pictures and doing some activities for the blog, I just wasn't finding the time to post... BUT, over the next few days, stay posted!!  I have SIX - yes - SIX blogs that I need to write up and post here for you!  I hope you enjoy!!  We've had some success, some failure... But I guess that is all the name of the game when it comes to becoming an expert, right?

Love you all!

Easy Snickerdoodle Cookies (8-27-11)

Hi everyone!!!

Feels like it has been forever since I've posted - even though it has just been a few days! Hope everyone's having a great day!!

Let's give you the background here... I had a quota to meet on one of those book-buying sites (kind of like the "book version" of Columbia House), so I bought a bunch of baking/cake books. One of which is called The Ultimate Shortcut Cookie Book. This book has 745 recipes that start with refrigerated cookie dough, cake or brownie mix, or ready-to-eat cereal.  It has so many great ideas in there!  I have a feeling that this book and I will become very fast friends!!

One of my favorite cookies is the snickerdoodle.  I don't know why, and it's only been over the past few years that it has entered the sacred category of "Favorite Cookies," but I find them MMM-MMM GOOD!  As a side note, please do not mistake this being a snickerdoodle with what my mom calls her snickerdoodles which are Snickers baked into a cookie dough (I may feature that as a future blog as well).  This is for actual snickerdoodles.

So... HERE GOES!!  Easy Snickerdoodle Cookies!!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar (I used Splenda which can be used in place of it at a 1:1 ratio)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 16.5oz roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough, well chilled

I actually didn't even use the silver spoon or the butter knife.

First, mix in the sugar/Splenda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  I used the teaspoon measuring spoon and just mixed it all up together using that.

(It would have been nicer if the nutmeg was a bit more "ground"... O:-) )

Next, I sliced up the cookie dough.  The recipe said to do it into 22 slices.  Seriously?  That would be like a MINI-bite cookie.  I have a big mouth.  I don't do mini cookies.  So, I did 12 slices.

(Ignore the fact that you can only see the end of the tube on one side.  The other side stayed in the wrapper when I cut it and...ummm... I had to...ummmm... taste-test it!  YUP!  It was still good! O:-) )

Next, take each slice and roll it into a ball.  I thought it would be a bit firmer, but it was super easy to squeeze it and roll it into a ball!

Now, take each ball and roll it into your sugar mixture.

Be sure the baking sheet is either non-stick or you spray it with a non-stick spray (or use some sort of other liner). Here's what the finished pre-cooked balls looked like:

Now, put them in the oven at 350 for 10-13 minutes (until edges are golden and centers are just set - per the book.  I don't really know what "just set" means though...).

Next, I did what probably few people do.  I realized I have never (that I can remember) really watched a cookie bake.  Watch it go from the ball shape into the flatter cookie shape.  So, I pulled the chair out, turned on the oven light, and watched.  Please excuse the drips down the glass.  I hadn't thought about doing this until I put the cookies in, so I could clean the outside, but not the inside.

Let the cookies cool in the pan for 2 minutes and then put them out on the cooling rack...

(The brown on the top of the cookies isn't burnt cookie.  It's extra cinnamon/nutmeg.)

Here is the top and bottom of the cookie.  LOOK, MOM!!  I DIDN'T BURN THE BOTTOM!!!  Check out that perfect brown on the bottom!!

And since I am one of the most impatient people EV-ER, I had a cookie after only about 2 minutes on the cooling rack.  In case you are wondering, 2 minutes does not result in a cookie being "completely cooled."  This results in the cookie curving a bit in the first pic! O:-)  I probably should have left the cookies in a bit longer.  The insides weren't completely cooked thru.  It wasn't like it was raw, just "soft."  I'm sure now that it has had some time to cool, it is finished all the way.

Update: After cooling for almost 2 hours, it was the same amount of "softness" in the middle. Again, not horrible, but I probably could have left it in the oven for another minute or two.

Definitely happy I made these... Now, have to get to flipping thru that wonderful book for an idea to use with the refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough I bought!!

Brownie Balls! (8-13-11)

OK... Everyone who loves chocolate, raise your hand!!!!  This blog is for all of you!!  The only way I can describe the end result is: It's a piece of chocolatey heaven!

We make a lot of brownies here at the Nifty Novice home.  My hubby loves brownies, and I tend to make pretty good ones, so I make them for him.  He has made, I think, one good batch in all of the times that he's tried (which, to be honest, isn't that much because I can't bear to see something go wrong with an entire box of brownies).  He came home from work on Wednesday and said that they were having a luncheon at work and he wanted to bring brownies.  I told him I would make them on Thursday before going to my best friend's house.

I did not take pictures of this process as it is a regular for us.  However, I DID do something different this time... To ease the removal of the brownies from the pan, I lined the pan (actually, there were two pans... I made two boxes of mix) with aluminum foil.  I had read that a lot of people do that and it sounded perfect to remove it AND it saved the pan!  DOUBLE WIN!  The problem is that I had never done that before... So while I sprayed the bottom of the pan with oil spray, I thought the foil would stick on the side, so I sprayed the sides as well.  This is a baking no-no - as I was told by my baking idol, Jaime.  If you spray on the sides of the pan, the mix doesn't rise because it's sliding back down the surface (when I make a cake, I spray the entire pan, but then I put a dusting of flour over all of it.  That helps keep it stick-free but still allow it to rise).  Sure enough, BOTH pans came out with the brownies not even an inch high (oh - and I had followed the directions to add an extra egg for "cake-ier brownies"...Cake-ier my foot! LOL).  My hubby was kind enough to not tease me about them, but they also didn't get taken into his work the next day.  So now, I had two 9x13 pans with 1/2-inch brownies.  And this is where my journey begins...

I'm sure you've heard of cake balls or cake pops.  It's "all the rage" and definitely something I will be doing and blogging about more in the future...  I believed I saw a few mentions somewhere about making brownie balls or brownie pops.  Since I wasn't confident enough in what I was doing to make the pops (and didn't want to waste the pop sticks - not that I could find where I had them either but that's not the point!), I decided to make brownie balls.

Yup... That's how thick the brownies were. That may have also aided in the SUPER chocolatey taste - since they were so condensed...

First, take the brownies and cut off the edges since they tend to be harder.  Great to eat straight, but not as easy to work with to make the balls.  Then, I divided out the rest of the brownies into quarters.  I read in a book that it is how I am supposed to do it to help break them up (take the quarters, rub them against each other and it will create the crumbs).  However, I think because the brownies aren't real "airy," that didn't work.  Oh well... made it look like I knew what I was doing!  LOL

When you crumble, you don't want any chunks.  Try to get them as crumbly as possible.  I think that, again, this would be easier with something not as dense and moist as brownies - I had some chunks and whenever I moved the pile of crumbs around to keep smooshing, the crumbs would mash together and become a clump.  And no - I did not suddenly join The Blue Man Group!  I wear gloves.  :-)  This process is probably easiest to just dive right in there with your hands verses trying to do any tools.

Next, add store bought frosting (BTW - I would probably say it is perfectly acceptable, even from the anti-box-mix crowd, to use box mixes for the cake/brownie balls/pops, as well as store bought frosting... Just makes the process a lot easier).  The tubs come in like 16-ounces.  What I was reading was to use about 12 ounces for one cake.  I figured that since I had two batches of brownies, but combined, they would equal the size of one cake, that I would just use the entire 16-ounces and call it good.  Honestly, it worked pretty good...  I would probably have liked another scoop or two of frosting, but I could still work with what I had.  I used fudge frosting (to go with the fudge brownies!).

Just start mashing it into the brownies with the front and back of your spoon.  It can be a bit tough, but eventually, you'll see it all come together.  You want it to not be TOO frosting-like, but have enough frosting to be able to squish it together and have it keep its shape.

Next, I used the cookie scooper my mom got me for Christmas.  It was its maiden voyage!  Scoop, roll to make into a smooth ball, place on wax paper on cookie sheet.

They look so neat and organized!  LOL  You may be able to see a few that aren't completely smooth all over.  I believe this is a result of the lack of frosting.  But it didn't affect anything in the long run (that I noticed at least!).  Put the pan in the FRIDGE to firm up.  Don't do the freezer.  I guess a lot of books say to use the freezer, but then all of the blogs and people making them say to use the fridge.  It does just as good of a job and you won't have the condensation issue that you would as they defrost.  And the condensation is a BIG issue when dealing with the Candy Melts that we use to coat.  Any moisture and the candy melts will seize up and be good for nothing.  I prefer the bags of the candy melts because they are 14 ounces... For this batch, I used an entire bag as well as about 1/4 of a bag that I had sitting around from a while back.

This is my setup.  I had a second cookie tray set up to put the dipped balls on.  Then, the space they created off of tray #1 would give me space on that tray to put more (since I knew I wouldn't be able to place them as close together as I did with just the plain balls).  The black cup contains Heath - Bits O Brickle Toffee Bits (just the toffee bits - not the ones with the chocolate bits as well). You can top it with anything you want - or nothing at all!  (But it gave me an excuse to buy one of my FAVORITE baking treats - EVER!  LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!  And I just saw that SKOR bits exist too!!  MUST get my hands on those!!)  I had a toothpick to help when I put the covered ball down, run the toothpick along the bottom of the ball so when the candy melts harden, you can take the ball off the sheet and it won't have a big "skirt" around it.  However, I used two spoons and were able to manipulate them to get as much of the excess candy melt coating off so that there were no real skirts created...

To cover the balls, drop the ball into the coating and then use the spoon to spoon coating over the balls.

I scooped the ball up with one spoon, scraped excess coating off with the other spoon, then rolled the ball over to spoon #2 and used spoon #1 to scrape.  Honestly, I probably should have added some shortening to the candy melts.  It would make them a bit runnier and then the coating, I believe, would be smoother.

Put the finished ball on the wax paper.  If you want to put a topping on it, you would do it now while the coating is still wet to hold onto the topping.  You can probably dip like two or three before it is too late to put topping on, but I would just do it right after each one to be on the safe side.  Maybe have someone (kid?) help you with this part!  The pops would be better for the topping because you wouldn't waste as much - you'd just dip the pop into the topping and call it good.  However with the balls, you need to sprinkle the topping, so you have a bit more mess.

I did about 1/2 to 2/3 of them with Heath bar topping.  I left a few plain (hubby said he liked them even just plain!), and did the rest with just the plain coating - no topping.

I put them in the fridge to harden up a bit more and here's the end result....

It's definitely sweet and VERY chocolatey.  But so yummy!!  And definitely a two-biter.  I have a big mouth and I have the need to bite half of it, admire the middle, and then pop the rest in!  LOL

I do have a lesson learned from this.  It's taken until this morning for me to figure out the problem.  After I put them in the fridge to firm up at the end (with the coating on them), I noticed that for some of them, if brownie was exposed (this was especially a problem on the bottom since the chocolate kind of goes out and leaves brownie there), it was "weeping".  It didn't even seem like enough to say that it was "sweating"... just some moisture seeping out.  Didn't change the flavor at all.  I have done some searching and it appears that after the initial balls have firmed up, before coating them, bring the balls back to room temperature.  They may have been too cold and while the condition would have been worse if they were frozen, it was just like condensation.  For us, I just put a layer of paper towel down and put the balls on top of that.  Works perfectly and no one is the wiser (except for now that I have exposed the secret! LOL).  I have a feeling this may not be as much of a problem with the pops because you can more thoroughly coat them and not leave any space for cake/brownie to be exposed.

This is definitely something I will be making more of in the future.  Everyone has really loved them!  While, considering wait times, it can take a while to finish them, its really not all that labor-intensive!

Update from 10-26-11: When making the candy melts, I read about adding vegetable shortening (i.e. "Crisco") to the melts. It will help thin out the coating so that it won't be so "heavy" in contrast to the brownie, as well as spread out the use of the melts.  I waited until the candy melts were about 75% melted and then added a tablespoon or two to the mix (about 1/2 of a bag of melts) and stirred it up...  I kept heating and stirring until the shortening melted, but if you get impatient, you can scoop out the unmelting shortening and toss it.  Make sure you keep stirring during use though...