Brutti Ma Buoni Cookies (Ugly but Good)

These are so good. If you like meringues and Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, these are for you. (If you don't like those, you're nuts, but you won't like these.) These are Italian cookies that mean ugly but good, and oh man, they live up to the name, at least the latter half. Mmmm. I brought them into the office and they're a big success. Also, they don't have any butter or flour so are healthier than most other cookie options - but there is a lot of sugar, so not that healthy. This is perfect for if you make cinnamon rolls or ice cream or other egg yolk-heavy recipes and have some extra whites to use! I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe but made it a little bigger and cut back on the chocolate a little.

Makes About 40 cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/3 tsp salt
6 egg whites
8oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Saltine Toffee Chocolate Peanut Ice Cream Sandwich

This is such a treat - a fancy, grown up ice cream sandwich. They're incredible messy (especially if you don't let them firm up enough) but oh my goodness, they are so good! I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and had to try it. Yum! The saltine/toffee/chocolate/peanut combo is amazing and so crunchy. If you want want to go through the trouble of making the sandwiches, you could also just crack it up and sprinkle it liberally over vanilla ice cream. It's addicting. I recommend making these the day before you want to eat them so they have a lot of time to firm up in the freezer - makes them a lot easier to eat. 

Ingredients:

36 saltines

1/2 cup butter cut into chunks

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

sea salt (or kosher salt if you don't have sea salt)

2 cups vanilla ice cream, slightly softened

Big handful roasted peanuts (or any other nut of your choice)

Tarte Soleil

I saw this beautiful snack on Smitten Kitchen and had to try it. It's so easy! It looks really fancy, but it's super simple. Very tasty and would be great to have out for a cocktail party. You can fill it with anything (cheese, chocolate, nutella...) but I tried a savory one first with tapenade. I did a mini one using just one sheet of puff pastry, but you can do a bigger one using two. 

Ingredients:

1 sheet thawed puff pastry

tapenade (I made some by pureeing black olives, sundried tomatoes, capers, garlic, anchovy paste, olive oil, and red pepper flakes, but store-bought works, too!)

grated pecorino

1 egg, beaten up with some water

Slow Cooker Chicken Stock

I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and wanted to try it, since I now own a slow cooker. It could not be easier, and it's a great, rich stock with pretty much no fat or any sort of foamy scummy stuff to remove. We had leftover wings from the Super Bowl, so it was perfect. I froze the stock in ziplock bags and noted how much went into each and the date. Can't wait to make soup.

Makes about 3 quarts.

Ingredients:

3 lb chicken wings

Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

So my slow cooker is my new toy, hence the multiple slow cooker posts this week. This soup is super easy, tasty, and healthy. I've frozen it in individual lunch size servings so I can just pop it in the microwave at work. It made five individual servings. (Got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium size red onions, chopped
1 medium size red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium size green bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 tsp ground cumin
1 16-oz package dried black beans
1 tbsp chopped chipotle chiles, from a can
7 cups hot water
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Browned Butter Rice Crispy Treats

These are delicious. I didn't think rice crispy treats needed fixing, but wow, just by browning the butter first and adding a little salt you really bump up the flavor. They did not last long - my friend Elaine did some major damage. These are perfect if you need something to throw together quickly and cheaply to bring to a party or work or anything.

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter

1 10 oz bag marshmallows

heaping 1/4 tsp coarse sea salt

6 cups Rice Krispies

Butter or nonstick spray for the pan

Directions:

Buttered Popcorn Cookies

After a great weekend in East Hampton, we came home early because poor Jamie has a terrible cold. While he was downstairs watching football, I needed some projects to keep me busy. Flipping through various cookbooks for a baking recipe, we settled on Smitten Kitchen's buttered popcorn cookies. They're pretty easy to make, and very tasty. The popcorn lightens up the cookies a lot. These would be perfect for a movie night. I'm going to bring some in to work.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup popcorn kernels

1/4 tsp table salt

1 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350, then make the popcorn. Put oil in the bottom of a large pot and add the kernals. Cover and turn the heat on medium high. Shaking the pot periodically until the popping stops, 5-7 minutes total. Pour in butter and salt, toss, then put in a bowl to cool.

Smitten Kitchen's Cinnamon French Toast

This is the a great way to make French Toast for a group. By making cinnamon toast first, the flavor is cinnamony and great, adding some extra sweetness. It's perfect for when you have a group of people to feed for breakfast and you don't want to serve everyone one by one and have to eat alone at the end. Very tasty!

Serves 4 (double to serve 8)
Ingredients:
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
8 pieces of white toast
1/2 stick butter
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 eggs
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
maple syrup

Directions:
To make cinnamon toast, preheat oven to 450. Whisk cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl. Line a baking sheet with foil and place bread on the sheet.