December's Cheese of the Month is....

Havarti!!! Thanks for voting and make sure to vote for next month's cheese too! Remember that you can always make more than one dish and make anything from desserts to soups to dips to anything your heart desires! I'm looking forward to this one. I've seen this cheese in the store and have always wanted to try it. I already have a recipe picked out too!

Please don’t forget to e-mail me when you are done. Thats_so_cheesy@yahoo.com

What is Cheese of the Month? Go here to find out: http://adventuresingluttony.blogspot.com/2008/07/cheese-of-month-challenge.html

Good luck fellow cheesians! I look forward to reading about your delicious creations!

November's Cheese Results

I was really excited for November's Cheese Challenge: Mascarpone Cheese. I have eaten it in desserts but have never tried to use it myself. This month there was only one other participate, but she made TWO dishes.

Cristine of Cooking with Cristine somehow finds the time to whip up all kinds of delicious dishes all while caring for two little ones. How does she do it?! She made two different recipes using mascarpone, dinner and dessert!

For dinner she made Rigatoni with Creamy Mushroom Sauce and for dessert she made a Brown Sugar Mascarpone Pizza.

Rigatoni with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Recipe from Giada DeLaurentis
1 pound rigatoni pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, mincedSalt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound assorted mushrooms, (such as cremini, shiitake and button), cleaned and sliced
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes.
2. While the pasta is cooking: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic to the pan. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook until soft, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the mushrooms to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally, about 5 to 7 minutes.
5. Turn the heat to high. Add the wine and cook for 3 minutes until all the liquid evaporates.
6. Add the stock and simmer until liquid is slightly reduced. Remove the pan from the heat.
7. Add the mascarpone cheese. Stir until creamy.
8. Drain the pasta, reserving about 1 cup of the pasta water, and transfer to a serving bowl. Add the mushroom mixture and the Parmesan.
9. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Toss well to coat pasta, adding the reserved pasta water, if needed, to loosen the pasta.
10. Garnish with the chopped chives. Serve immediately.

Dessert was fairly simple yet simply amazing. All she did was mixed in a little brown sugar with some mascarpone and spread it on the pizza dough. Then she topped it with blueberries and a streusel topping. After the pizza came out of the oven, she drizzled it with homemade dulce de leche.

That was one family table that I wished I could had been out!!!
You can read all about her adventures here:
http://cristinecooks.blogspot.com/2008/11/cheese-of-month-mascarpone.html

And now for my recipe. I only had time for one recipe this one. I had to host Thanksgiving for my family. So, a few days before I had my sisters come down and help me prepare for that fateful day. I had to make dinner for them every night till Thanksgiving. So, the one night I made a wonderful and easy side dish. Twice Baked Potatoes!!! I got the recipe off one of my favorite cheese sites: Wisconsin Cheese and Dairy


My sisters and even my super picky husband LOVED them. They was easy to make and so creamy and flavorful. I even have some mascarpone cheese left!!! These made four HUGE potatoes. This recipe gets a five out of five dancing cheeses.

TWICE BAKED POTATOES WITH BITTER GREENS AND MASCARPONE CHEESE

4 baking potatoes, about
12 ounces each
1 6-ounce package baby spinach or arugula-baby spinach mix
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper, optional
1/2 cup Mascarpone cheese
4 heaping teaspoons Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Prick potatoes with fork or make a short, deep slit in each and bake about 1 hour or until tender when pierced with fork.
3. Meanwhile, wilt the greens. Place 2 1/2 cups water in deep sauce pan. Bring to boil and add pinch of salt. Add greens. Boil until wilted, about 4 minutes. Remove to fine sieve and rinse with cold water to cool. Squeeze out water to dry greens. Snip greens with scissors and resqueeze to remove moisture. Set aside on absorbent paper towel.
4. When potatoes are cooked, cool slightly. Cut off a shallow slice from the top of each potato. With a sharp tipped spoon, scoop potato pulp into a mixing bowl.
5. Add salt, pepper and 1/2 cup Mascarpone cheese.
6. Whip with an electric mixer until smooth, or alternatively, mash by hand. You may have to add more mascarpone, depending on the dryness of the potatoes.
7. Fold reserved greens into the whipped potatoes.
8. Place potatoes on a baking sheet. Sprinkle a heaping teaspoon of Parmesan over each.
9. Bake at 400°F for about 15-20 minutes.
(The potatoes may be stuffed ahead and refrigerated until baking time.)

See you all next month!!!

DB:Caramel Cupcakes w/caramelized butter frosting

Well, I'm late on posting November's Challenage. I actually made these last week for my husband's teacher friends, but since I was away this weekend I couldn't post till today!

I was really excited about November's Challenage, which was Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting. The Caramel Cake Recipe Courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon. The recipe is published from Bay Area Bites. The Hosts/Co-Hosts for this month's challenge are as follows:
1. Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity
2. Alex of Blondie and Brownie
3. Jenny of Foray into Food
4. Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go

I LOVE caramel!!! The thought of making an entire cake, though, was not appealing to me. So, I decided to make cupcakes instead. After reading what others had posted on the message board, I decided to add a dark chocolate ganche to my cupcakes as well. Despite what most people said, I didn't find these little beauties to overly sweet. I loved the combination of sweet and saltly, too. If you ever had a Dark Chocolate Seasalt Caramel from Gertrude Hawk Chocolates, then you can see this is what I was going for when I added the dark chocolate ganche. Everyone at the school LOVED them. They were moist and flavorful and not that hard to make.

With the leftover batter I took my super mini muffin tin and made 100 calorie size cupcakes.

Has anyone ever tried the Hostess 100 Calorie Cupcake Pack? There I was...on a diet...and desperate for something that actually tasted good. I was thrilled to find a healthy cupcake. Image my horror and my anger when I opened the package to find three bite size cupcakes!!! It was that day that I decided that I would rather be fat and happy than skinny and hungry!!!

I burn the sugar the first time and the butter, too!

I didn't have a seieve, so when I came time to put the browned butter through one, I just used poured the butter through a fork and that seemed to get most of the flecks out. But besides that it went pretty smoothly. The frosting was AMAZING! I used the leftover frosting for my Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns


and even my mom (who doesn't like anything) loved them. My husband fell in love with the frosting too and wants me to use it as a staple from now on. It differently has an unique flavor.

And now…THE RECIPE:

CARAMEL CAKE (or cupcakes)
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperaturesplash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan. (or cupcake pan)
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. (I used a handmixer)
4. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.
5. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl.
6. Scrape down bowl and increase speed.
7. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition.
8. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.
9. Sift flour and baking powder.
10. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}
11. Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.
12. Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it. Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator. (If making cupcakes, I found that 15-20 mintues was the best time. I only had one cupcake pan, so I didn't rotate it).

CARAMEL SYRUP
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)

1. In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush.
2. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.
3. When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.
4. Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

1. Cook butter until brown.
2. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.
3. Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.
4. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time.
5. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated.
6. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light.

Dark Chocolate Ganche

7 oz Dark Chocolate, broken up into pieces (Good quality...Hershey is CRAP!!!)
1/4 C Whipping Cream

1. Melt whipping cream and dark chocolate in a double boiler until melted.
2. Let cool slightly.
3. Pour over cupcakes BEFORE added the frosting.

ASSEMBLING:

The assembly follows this simple order:

Cake(cupcake)
Ganche
Frosting

ENJOY!!!!

The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I joined yet another group: The Cookie Carnival. It is basically the same idea as the Daring Bakers only with cookies. Every month we get the same cookie recipe and we all try it out and blog about it. I figured this would be a good group to join because I bake cookies every month for Operation Baking Gals anyways and I'm always looking for new cookie ideas.

The cookie selection for November was The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Regan Daley's book "In The Sweet Kitchen." This made a ton of cookies. I send a few to my brother in college, a few to solider in Iraq, and still had six leftover for my hubby who always complains that I make all these cookies and he never gets any. The verdict: This cookie definitely lives up to its name!!! I'm not normally a Chocolate chip cookie fan (because I'm a weirdo who likes the more unusal cookies out there!), but these were amazing!!! My husband was deeply impressed. I imediately added this cookie to my index card of recipes. This will definitely be a staple cookie that use in Operation Baking Gals every month...and for my hubby...when he's been nice to me. ;-)

The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp

1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsps. pure vanilla extract

3 cups plus

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

16 oz. flavorful bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly butter them, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or a large bowl if mixing by hand, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

3. Using your hands, shape knobs of dough about the size of a large walnut and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Stagger the rows of cookies to ensure even baking. Bake 12-15 for smaller cookies, 14-17 for larger ones or until the tops are a light golden brown. If the cookies are neither firm nor dark when they are removed from the oven, they will cool chewy and soft.

4. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. If somehow they don't get inhaled immediately, they may be stored airtight at room temperature for up to one week.

Another Blog Award

I recieved another blog award from Cristine of Cooking With Cristine. She rocks of course! The The Premio Arte y Pico Award comes with rules but I don't mind. I would love to pay it forward.


They are:

1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.

2. Advertise name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award-winner, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize has to show the link of “Arte y pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. Share these rules.

I would love to pass this award on to the following blogs:

Shao of Friedwontons4U

Lynsday and Pam of Baking For Our Troops

Arlene of The Food of Love

Mary of Alpineberry (This woman is the one who inspired me to start my blog and join the Daring Bakers!)

Susan of Operation Baking Gals (My favorite charity baking group!)

November's Cheese of the Month is....

Sorry this is so late! My daughter had a bad reaction to some meds she was taking, so it has been a crazy week!!!

I decided that this month that I would allow my fellow cheesians the change to vote. It looks like we have tie, though! So, I guess I'm the tie breaker. I decided to go with Mascarpone, because I found some in my local grocery store and it was actually a lot cheaper than I though. I also never made anything with it before, so it will truely be a challenge. Thanks for voting and make sure to vote for next month's cheese too!

Remember that you can always make more than one dish and make anything from desserts to soups to dips to anything your heart desires! Please don’t forget to e-mail me when you are done. Thats_so_cheesy@yahoo.com

Don't forget that I've added some Cheese Sites that you might find helpful or, at the very least, interesting at the bottom right side of my blog. If you find any links you will like to add just e-mail thats_so_cheesy@yahoo.com or leave a comment here and I will add it.If you have any other suggestions just let me know!

What is Cheese of the Month? Go here to find out: http://adventuresingluttony.blogspot.com/2008/07/cheese-of-month-challenge.html

Good luck fellow cheesians! I look forward to reading about your delicious creations!

Cheddar Cheese Results for October

Sorry this is a little late! My daughter had a bad reaction to Amoxicin (spelling?) she was taking for an ear infection. So, it has been a rough week. She's fine now, but now we have to be careful about what meds she takes in the future.

Last month, I chose cheddar cheese. I decided that ANY type of cheddar would do. I figured that gave people a lot of options.

This round I had two people participate, which was very exciting! Everyone made something wonderful and delicious.

Fellow Cheesian Number One: Cristie

I was pleased to get an email from Cristie of Edible Antics-Having Fun With Food. Which is a tiny web store that sells gourmet foods made by Wisconsin artisans and small businesses. She's from Wisconsin and couldn't pass up participating because, as she puts it, "cheese is something we Wisconsinites LOVE!!!!" Her entry was Ham, Broccoli, and Cheddar Cheese Quiche. I absolutely adore quiches. I use to eat them once a month when I worked as high school teacher. The teachers would all come together and make all kinds of goodies for breakfast. Someone always made a quiche and I just fell in love! The one Cristie made sounds DIVINE and yet amazely simple.

Ham, Broccoli, and Cheddar Cheese Quiche

Single pie crust
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 cup broccoli - I use frozen, cut-up broccoli that I thawed in the microwave
1 cup ham, cubed or diced
1 cup 1/2 and 1/2
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated (any favorite cheese will do)
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. I buy the prepared pie crust unless I happen to have homemade handy. Spread pie crust in pie plate.
   
2. Chop onion and ham.
   
3. Thaw and drain broccoli if frozen; wash and chop finely if fresh.
   
4. Put onion, then broccoli then ham in pie crust.
   
5. You want the ham juice to drip down over the veggies.
   
6. Meanwhile, put 1/2 and 1/2 in medium sauce pan and heat over low to medium heat until a thin skin forms over the milk/cream.
   
7. Stir in grated cheese. When cheese is melted, remove from heat and stir in the beaten eggs.
   
8. Add nutmeg and salt and pepper.
   
9. Line the oven grate with tin foil in case the quiche over-flows. Put the pie crusts filled with meat and veggies on the foil. Pour the cheese, egg, and milk/cream mixture into the pie crusts.
   
10. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 - 40 minutes.
    

You can read all about her adventure on her blog:

http://food-fun.wisconsinfood.com/edible_antics/2008/10/multi--task-or-multi-purpose-recipe-fo-ham-n-cheddar-quiche-serves-many-purposes.html

Fellow Cheesian Number Two: Christine

I was pleasantly pleased to hear from Christine of Cooking with Christine. I've been following her blog for quite some time now and glad that she was able to participate this month. I was also surprised to learn that she made an Apple Cheddar Pie, which was surprising because I was just thinking about when I got her e-mail. You can read all about her adventures here:

http://cristinecooks.blogspot.com/2008/10/cheese-of-month.html

After reading her account, I will definitely gives this one a try sometime!

Apple Cheddar Pie
Recipe from Emeril Lagasse (BAM! HEE HEE!)

• 2 pie crusts
• 3 medium Golden Delicious apples (about 1 1/4 pounds), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 3 medium Granny Smith apples (about 1 1/4 pounds), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1/3 cup plus
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup 1/2-inch cubes medium cheddar cheese (4 1/2 ounces)

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
2. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide into two portions.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one-half of the crust to a 12-inch circle and transfer to a 9-inch pie pan, pressing gently to fit.
4. Roll out the second half of the crust to a circle and set aside.
5. In a large bowl, combine the apples, sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and toss to coat the apples.
6. Add the cheese and spoon the apple mixture into the prepared pie pan.
7. Arrange the second crust over the fruit.
8. Trim the edges to a 3/4-inch overhang, fold under the two crusts, and crimp the edges of the crusts together to seal the dough.
9. With a sharp knife, cut a decorative pattern of slits into the top crust.
10. With a pastry brush, brush the cream over the top crust and sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar over the top.
11. Bake until the crust is golden and the juices begin to bubble, 45 to 55 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 1 to 2 hours before serving. Serve warm.

And finally here is what I came up with: Baby Bell's Smokey Cheddar is Better Soup! My daughter LOVES smoke cheese. A few months ago, I bought Wisconin Cheddar Soup from local deli/restaurant in our area. It way too smokey for me, but she LOVED it. She was licking the bowl clean. So, I figured this was a good change for me to try and make a copy cat version of it. My daughter, being the crazy picky 1 1/2 year old that she is, doesn't eat enough veggies. So, I added some veggies to this soup. She, of course, LOVED it! This soup was slightly spicy but my daughter loves spicy (I ate a lot of hot wings near the end of my pregnancy!).

You can use half to one pound of cheddar if you like. It depends how cheesey you want it. I bought a block of smoked cheddar that was almost a pound. (It's not as much as it sounds) It was like $7, though. So, I won't be making this every week, but definitely as a special treat. It makes a lot, too. So, I froze some of it for later use. I also used deli ham, but I think next time I might try bits of a ham steak. I just happened to have deli ham on hand. The veggies added a nice touch and was a great way to sneak in some veggies. This soup was quick to make too. This soup gets five dancing cheese guys out of five.

Baby Bell's Smokey Cheddar is Better Soup

• 2 1/2 Tbsp Butter
• 1/2 C Shredded Carrots
• 1/2 Celery, finely chopped
• 1/2 Medium Onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 C Green peppers, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/2 C Deli ham, torn into small pieces
• 1/2 C Flour
• 2 TbspCornstarch
• 2 C Chicken broth
• 2 C Milk
• 1/2 Tsp Paprika
• 1/2 Tsp Dry mustard
• 1/2 Lb. Smoked Cheddar Cheese, grated
• Salt/Pepper, to taste

1. In a large heavy kettle, melt butter or margarine; add carrots, celery, onion, green pepper, and ham.
2. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are crisp tender, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Do not brown.
3. Add flour and cornstarch; cook, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes.
4. Add broth and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened.
5. Add milk, paprika, cayenne and mustard.
6. Stir in cheese gradually, stirring until cheese is melted.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.