Pine Nut Cookies

This was another cookie recipe I made for the tailgate. And yet another one that I was nervous about. I mean, who puts pine nuts in cookies? All I know to use them for is pesto! These weren't as good as the Berry Lemon Cookies, but still very tasty! More of a shortbread cookie, so it's not chewy but the flavors are great!

Pine Nut Cookies-adapted from Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentiis
Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Makes 2 dozen cookies

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon whole fennel seed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup pine nuts

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, fennel seed and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add the flour and mix until just blended.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape into a log. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Unwrap the dough and cut it into 1/8-1/4 inch thick slices. Place on baking sheets and press the pine nuts decoratively atop the cookies. Bake cookies until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Berry Lemon Cookies

I made these cookies for a Brewer's tailgate for work. I was very nervous making them, mostly because of the berries in the cookies. To me, berries belong in muffins, or for breakfast--not in cookies. However, I'm incredibly glad that I went through with this recipe! I used frozen mixed berries of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. You could use any combination of fresh or frozen berries. Using the cake flour (or DIY-ing the cake flour as I did. It's SO easy and if you aren't going to use it all the time, it's totally worth it) made these incredibly doughy, chewy and delicious. They were a huge hit tailgating, but I forgot a picture.

Berry Lemon Cookies-adapted from Pia Recipes
Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Makes 2 dozen cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups mixed berries 
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beat after each addition. Add vanilla extract and beat to incorporate. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients into the batter. Carefully fold in berries and chocolate chips. 

Allow dough to cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to overnight. Spoon rounded balls of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 

Bake for 11-14 minutes, until the bottoms are slightly golden brown (the edges should not brown). 

Greek Stuffed Chicken

I have been terrible at updating my blog. For that I'm sorry. I've still been cooking. Kind of. I've honestly just been lazy. It's been random stir-frys and tacos a lot. Can't complain, but wish I was cooking more new things. The only good thing is the stuff I have been cooking has not been getting posted. So I have a few days worth of posts to share!

The first one is an original recipe. When I create things from scratch, I'm not the best at measuring, so these are pretty much estimates. I'm trying to get better at that, but I promise you this was a delicious meal! Penzey's Greek Seasoning is one of my favorite seasonings now! It adds so much flavor to steak, chicken, you name it! It made this dish. The adapted from recipe is what I used as a baseline, but I didn't really follow the ingredients.

Greek Stuffed Chicken-adapted from AllRecipes.com
Total Time: 45 Minutes
Serves 3

• 3 chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons Penzey's Greek Seasoning
• 8 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup tomato, diced
• 4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Season chicken with Greek seasoning. Slit chicken breasts open on the sides to be able to stuff. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the ricotta, egg, olives and tomatoes and 1/2 the cheese together. Stuff each breast with 1/3 of the cheese mixture, and hold sides of the chicken closed with toothpicks. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Top chicken with remaining cheese. Cook for 45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.