Rachel’s Mexican Wedding Cookies

As promised, here is the recipe for those delicious looking powdered cookies in the picture below! Thanks Rachel!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
21/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (either pecans or walnuts)
Powdered sugar

Heat oven to 400. Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and the vanilla. Mix in flour, salt, and nuts until dough holds together (it will be crumbly, but when you form the cookies it should mold together.)

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until set, but not brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

Roll in powdered sugar while warm; cool. Roll in powdered sugar again (I don’t usually roll them again, it’s up to you.) It says it makes about 4 dozen cookies, but it doesn’t make that many. Enjoy!

Mexican Chocolate Brownies

For those who want to add a little spice to their lives!! 😉

Decided to make these for my good friend’s bridal shower- it was Mexican Fiesta themed! This being the first time I’ve attempted brownies from scratch, let alone anything Mexican chocolate-esque, I erred on the side of caution with the spices. That said, I hear that the spices only get stronger the next day! These have cinnamon, chili powder, and a bit of cayenne. Feel free to add more or less spice, depending on how you like it!

Mmmm… spicy! I DEFINITELY recommend this one. ¡Olé! ¡Olé!

Oh, and the Mexican cookies you see in the middle tier there were made by my good friend Rachel. Absolutely delicious. Recipe to come!

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First, start off with melting the butter and chopped dark chocolate in a microwave on high for 30 second increments until completely melted. Don’t let it boil though! Mix with a fork until smooth. Add the cocoa powder slowly and continue to mix until combined.

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In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.

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Pour the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture and whisk to combine. Sift in the flour, cinnamon, chili powder, cayenne, and salt until just combined. Don’t overmix! Stir in chocolate chips.

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Spread the mixture evenly into a lightly greased, foiled 8×8 or 9×9 baking pan. Bake at 350 deg for about 30 minutes, until a fork comes out clean in the center (or knife, as you can see from my picture!)

Completely cool before cutting into squares! Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream, or enjoy them by themselves!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3 oz. chopped dark chocolate
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 9×9 or 8×8 baking pan with aluminium foil and lightly grease bottom. In a small bowl, microwave the butter and chopped chocolate until melted, in 30 second increments. Stir with a fork until smooth. Add in cocoa powder and continue to stir until completely blended. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Pour chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture and whisk together till smooth. Sift in flour, cinnamon, cayenne, chili powder, and salt until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Spread evenly in the lined pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until knife in the middle comes out smooth. Cool completely before slicing into squares. ¡Olé!

CHICKEN PARMESAN FLORENTINE

This one was a great success! Made it for Ben for Valentine’s Day. First time actually making my own chicken parm, after it’s been one of my favorites for a long time!

With these ingredients you really can’t go wrong. Cheese, tomatoes, breaded chicken, spinach… Ohhh yes please.

INGREDIENTS
4 chicken breast tenders, thinly sliced
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper
1 jar tomato sauce
3/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup cooked spinach
1 cup shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese
4 oz. whole wheat angel hair pasta

Spinach, Ham and Ricotta Calzones

Ingredients:

1 batch thin-crust pizza dough (I used a roll of Pillsbury ready-made thick pizza dough), or 2 lbs store-bought pizza dough

2-3 cups filling: any favorite combination of cooked meat, cooked veggies, and mozzarella cheese (for these, I used ham, frozen chopped spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella)

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide the dough into 6 even pieces and place on parchment paper. Press each piece into a flat disk and roll out until about 8” diameter. 

In the bottom third of the circle of each piece, spread about 1/3 cup of filling, leaving about an inch border around the edge. Fold the top part of the dough over the bottom, pressing around the edges of the non-folded edge to seal. 

Tap the calzones lightly to spread filling evenly.

Brush the calzones lightly with olive oil and stab tops of the calzones with a fork to allow steam to vent out during cooking. 

Bake calzones for 15-20 minutes. Rotate the tray in the oven and bake another 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top and browned on the edges.

Cool briefly and serve with marinara sauce.