Cake Batter Pancakes

I'm pretty sure my sweet tooth took over this past weekend in a mean way. First there were the Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies, which apparently were not enough. I've been seeing cake batter this, that, and the other everywhere it seems. Fantastic news, just typically not for dinner. Until I ran across these pancakes on How Sweet It is. I vote if it can be eaten for breakfast, it can be eaten for dinner.

Well, maybe except these. Which might qualify more as dessert than anything else. Nah. There's such a thing as glazed doughnuts with sprinkles. I rest my case.

Cake Batter Pancakes

Adapted from: How Sweet It Is

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cake mix
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tablespoon sprinkles

1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add 1 cup milk, egg and vanilla extract and whisk until all ingredients are hydrated and the batter is smooth. If the batter is too thick add the remaining 1/2 cup milk, a little at a time until the consistency desired is achieved (should look like regular pancake batter). Gently fold sprinkles into batter.

Preheat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, pour 1/4 cup batter onto skillet (can make 2-3 pancakes at a time). Let cook until the top of the pancake starts to bubble, about 2-3 minutes, then flip and cook for another minute or two.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and half of the 1/4 cup milk. Slowly add more milk until a nice pour-able consistency is reached. Serve pancakes drizzled with vanilla glaze.

Makes: about 12 pancakes

The whole time I was eating these, I couldn't help but think how absolutely perfect they would be for a morning birthday party for little kids, or a pajama sleepover type party. This is one of those dishes that makes you happy to be an adult, feeding yourself, making yourself a super sweet breakfast for dinner because.you.can. I'm pretty sure my mom is shaking her head, yet not the least bit surprised that I would eat this -- for dinner.

While these were delicious, I probably wouldn't try eating them for dinner again, and maybe only for a very special occasion have them for breakfast. Although I think part of it is due to knowing there is cake batter in it and I probably "shouldn't" be eating them... wanting to is a whole other story.

Nutrition Facts - per pancake
Amount per serving
Calories 184	Calories from fat 27
% Daily Value
Total Fat 3.0g	5%
Saturated Fat 0.9g	5%
Cholesterol 34mg	11%
Sodium 159mg	7%
Total Carbs 34.7g	12%
Dietary Fiber 0.6g	2%
Sugars 18.3g
Protein 4.3g
Vitamin A 2%	Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 8%	Iron 6%

Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ridiculous. Decadent. Insane. Gargantuan.

Really.

You just have to trust me on this one. It's a cookie inside of a cookie. How can it not be amazing?

There's not really a whole lot else to say. Except maybe - Wow. Combining two of my favorite cookies into one? Ingenious!

Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from: Picky Palate

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
27 Double Stuf Oreo cookies (about 1 package)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

In the large work bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix until combined.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture 1 cup at a time, making sure flour is incorporated before adding more. Mix in chocolate chips.

Place 1 tablespoon of cooking dough on top of an Oreo cookie. Place a second tablespoon underneath. Gently press the dough down around the Oreo, sealing the cookie dough edges together so that no Oreo shows through. Transfer the cookie to a prepared baking sheet and repeat, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until cookies are a pale golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Makes: about 27 cookies

Adam and I were having company over for dinner on Friday, and I wasn't really in the mood to make anything too crazy or fancy for dessert. I had a few suggestions for either stuffed cookies or a trifle, both of which sounded tasty and easy. So I called Adam and asked if he had a preference. The Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip cookie was the first option... we didn't even get to option B. "Oh my. That sounds so good. Make that." was all I heard. So cookies it was.

These actually came together and were much easier than I had anticipated. And yes, there is definitely a reason these are popping up all over the web, they are really just that good. You really need to get on board and try these -- now.

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 264	Calories from fat 106
% Daily Value
Total Fat 11.8g	18%
Saturated Fat 5.6g	28%
Trans Fat 0.5g
Cholesterol 34mg	11%
Sodium 269mg	11%
Total Carbs 37.2g	12%
Dietary Fiber 1.1g	4%
Sugars 19.5g
Protein 3.1g
Vitamin A 5%	Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 1%	Iron 8%

Irish Beef & Beer Stew

This is what I get for letting Adam pick what's for dinner. I was struggling trying to come up dinner for the week, again, so I tossed my recipe binder to Adam and told him to pick something. Of course, he finds a recipe not marked but has both beer and beef in the title. Why am I not surprised?

If you haven't noticed by now, I don't really do a lot of beef. I very rarely, if ever, have steak-craving, and surprisingly, Adam never really asks for just a big chunk of red meat. If and when red meat shows up here, it's usually in the form of ground beef/round/sirloin. That I can handle. When I was still in high school, trimming meat, especially chicken, grossed me out. I literally could not do it. After having to actually feed myself, I finally got past my trimming chicken aversion, but not so much for other meat (i.e. beef).

So there I was last night. Standing in the kitchen looking at a huge slab of chuck roast wondering what in the heck I was supposed to trim, and what was I supposed to leave, and oh gross why is that hard? I'm sure my face was priceless at times. But I somehow managed to slice and dice my beef and get it in the pot. I had such reservations about it though. I just couldn't imagine that cut of beef becoming tender in just two hours. I was oh-so-wrong, and glad of it. Instead of being tough and chewy, the beef was tender -- almost to the falling apart stage. Win. Now go throw some Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes in the oven. Surely you'll want the beer-laced food festivities to continue after you finish this stew, right?

Irish Beef & Beer Stew
Adapted from: Cooking Light, December 2009

3 bacon slices
2 1/2 pounds boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups onion, diced
8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 (11.2-ounce) bottle Guinness beer
2 cups carrot, sliced in 1/2-inch thickness
1 3/4 cups parsnip, sliced in 1/2-inch thickness
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons stone-ground Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 dried bay leaf

In a dutch oven over medium heat, cook bacon until done. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside. Add half of beef to drippings in pan, cook 5 minutes, or until brown on all sides. Remove beef from pan and set aside. Repeat with remaining beef.

Add onion to dutch oven; sauté 4 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic; sauté an additional 4 minutes or until starting to turn tender. Whisk in flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in beer, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add bacon, beef, carrots, parsnips, broth, mustard and seasonings to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 2 hours or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaf before serving.

Serves: 8

Not being a huge beef stew lover, I have to admit this was pretty good. The caraway seeds are fairly potent, however, so if you're a typical eyeballer when it comes to measuring things out, I'd err on the side of caution with those. The only thing that I didn't really care for in this dish was the mushrooms. Wait, mushrooms? I though I had changed my mind on those. For the most part yes, but for some reason, the way they are treated in this recipe reminds me of why I didn't like them in the first place. Although Adam was more than happy to take them off my hands.

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 598	Calories from fat 335
% Daily Value
Total Fat 37.2g	57%
Saturated Fat 14.3g	72%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 148mg	49%
Sodium 668mg	28%
Total Carbs 16.9g	6%
Dietary Fiber 3.2g	13%
Sugars 4.5g
Protein 44.1g
Vitamin A 92%	Vitamin C 15%
Calcium 6%	Iron 30%

White Chocolate Pistachio Butter

Lately, it seems as though I've seen nut butters popping up everywhere. Almond butter, peanut butter, and every type of variation in between. Of course, I get that itch to try it out. And why not? It's no secret I'm a peanut butter-holic, although it's not my favorite nut. No, that title is a toss up between cashews and pistachios. If peanut butter is so good, what if I made a nut butter out of my favorite nut? It would have to be awesome, right?

The nut butter-making process seemed simple enough: 1) Choose your nuts (unsalted and not roasted); 2) Blanch and roast nuts (if desired); and 3) Toss nuts in food processor and let 'er go. I should know better by now. Things that seem so simple I tend to make much more difficult. This was more my process:
1) Purchase nuts. The wrong ones (i.e. salted and roasted).
2) Pick some of the most difficult nuts to work with. Spend 30+ minutes and two sore fingers later shelling pistachios.
3) Blanch pistachios.
4) Rub pistachios with towel, then go through and de-skin each one.
5) Skip the roasting part since they've already been roasted once.
6) Put in food processor and turn on. Let go for 5 minutes, 10 minutes... give the food processor a break as it's getting kind of hot. Still lumpy.
7) Keep processing nuts on and off for another 10 minutes. Still lumpy. Give up for the day.
8) Put nuts in blender and attempt to process nuts that way for about 5-10 minutes. Better, but still not silky smooth butter.
9) Add a bit of oil. Doesn't really work.
10) Add more oil. Still doesn't really work.
11) Get the bright idea that white chocolate would help smooth it out and taste good. Taste good, yes, help smooth it out, only a bit.
12) Give up and eat it anyways.

Don't be jealous now, it takes massive skills to add all those additional steps to what was supposed to be a three-step process -- and still get lumpy nut butter.

Eh, I'm not giving up though. Despite it not being a lusciously smooth butter, I've still got plans for this stuff. Unless my spoon gets to it first.

White Chocolate Pistachio Butter
Original Recipe

2 cups shelled Pistachios, unsalted & non-roasted
1 tablespoon canola oil
4 ounces white chocolate, melted

Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil over high heat. Add the shelled pistachios and boil for 2 minutes. Drain.

Pour the pistachios out onto a towel, and rub back and forth (to help loosen skins). Peel the remaining skins off each nut.

Transfer pistachios to a food processor, and process for 10 minutes. Add oil if necessary then process for an additional 5 minutes.

Pour the white chocolate into the food processor and process until fully incorporated and the butter is as smooth as possible.

Store in the refrigerator.

Makes: 1 1/2 cups nut butter (serving size: 2 tablespoons)

Even though I ended up with lumpy butter (after much more than 15 minutes of processing), the flavor of this nut butter was delicious. White chocolate and pistachios play oh-so-nice together. I really wish this had turned out how I wanted, but, it's a learning process I guess. Now I just want to move on to the next kind. That's right, I'm looking at you lonely jar of peanuts sitting on the counter...

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 90	Calories from fat 61
% Daily Value
Total Fat 6.8g	11%
Saturated Fat 1.5g	8%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 1mg	0%
Sodium 4mg	0%
Total Carbs 5.8g	2%
Dietary Fiber 1.1g	4%
Sugars 3.6g
Protein 2.5g
Vitamin A 1%	Vitamin C 1%
Calcium 2%	Iron 3%

Mini Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread -- a recipe with rules and about 50 million ways to break them. Traditionally, Irish soda bread is made with 4 ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. That's it. Anything else added and it is no longer a "traditional" Irish Soda Bread. Not only does this bread only involve four ingredients, but there is also no kneading or rise time involved. You can't get much easier than that.

Of course, over the years, a whole host of things have been added from eggs to whiskey to yogurt to raisins and the list goes on. So... feel free to add whatever you'd like. Since St. Patty's Day is just around the corner, I opted to go for the "almost traditional" route by including just a bit of sugar. I can't follow all the rules, now can I?

Mini Irish Soda Breads
Adapted from: CaffeIna

3 1/2 cups flour (all-purpose or cake flour)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
8+ ounces buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly dust a baking sheet with flour, then set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Make sure the ingredients are mixed well.

Form a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour the buttermilk into the well and stir with a wooden spoon. The dough will be soft but lumpy. If all the flour mixture is not hydrated, add more buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time until all the ingredients are fully incorporated.

Knead the dough 15-30 seconds, then shape into a large disk. You can slice a cross in the dough and bake at this point, or you can divide the dough evenly into 6 balls. Flatten the tops of the balls, then cut a cross halfway deep into the top of each one. Transfer the balls to the baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 400 degrees F and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Transfer the breads to a cooling rack for several minutes before serving them.

Makes: 6 mini breads

Right out of the oven (okay, after cooling for a few minutes), these little bread balls somewhat reminded me of those flaky Pillsbury biscuits. You know the ones, with the layers you can peel, only with a much crunchier outside and without the buttery factor. Not so bad for only 5 ingredients.

Then I tried to reheat these wrapped in foil in the oven right before dinner. Not so great. These had lost their crispy crunch outside and fluffy inside, and were instead just tough on the outside and super dense on the inside. Even the ones that didn't go in the oven were the same way. Sad face.

If you plan on serving these right out of the oven, I say go for it. They're tasty then. However, I wouldn't make this ahead of time or plan on keeping it around, it just doesn't hold up for later use.

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 283	Calories from fat 9
% Daily Value
Total Fat 1.0g	2%
Cholesterol 2mg	1%
Sodium 639mg	27%
Total Carbs 58.2g	19%
Dietary Fiber 2.0g	8%
Sugars 2.7g
Protein 8.8g
Vitamin A 0%	Vitamin C 1%
Calcium 6%	Iron 19%

A World of Cake Giveaway Winner!

And the winner of the World of Cake giveaway is...

Entry #46: Jennifer!*

Congratulations Jennifer! Please email your address to runswithspatulas@gmail.com by 12:40pm eastern time Wednesday March 16, so I can have Storey Publishing send you a copy of this awesome cookbook!


Thanks to everyone who participated!

*The giveaway winner has changed as the original winner did not respond.

Ravioli with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

Dear Cooking Light,

I am glad you published a fast and easy cookbook, but let's be honest -- this meal didn't take 8 minutes to make. Just because you write up in the ingredient list for chopped onions and quartered mushrooms, does not make that actual prep work time go away. Let's not forget that you have to clean the mushrooms first... which adds another, oh 10 minutes or so? While we're at it, what's with this prechopped onion mix you keep talking about? I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. At least not in my grocery store. How about we stick to things that are readily available (and practical)?

I like that you're trying, I really do. But please, for future reference, be realistic. Factor in the prep time, especially when you have ingredients that aren't quite as good when prepped far ahead of time.

K thanks,
The one who is glad they weren't really going for a super quick meal on this one

Ravioli with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Adapted from: Cooking Light's Fresh Food Fast

20 ounces cheese ravioli
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (8-ounce) package baby portobello mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons half-and-half
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato pesto
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup Asiago cheese, grated

Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add pasta and cook to al dente according to package instructions. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a large non-stick skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and onion, sautéing 5 minutes, or until onions are tender and the mushrooms have browned.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, half-and-half, pesto, salt, and pepper until smooth. Add to the mushroom mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 5 minutes or until mixture thickens slightly. Add the pasta to the skillet and gently toss until all the ravioli is coated. Serve sprinkled with cheese.

Serves: 4

For the record, this probably took me closer to 30 minutes to pull together rather than the 8 claimed by the recipe. But I have to admit, it was definitely worth those extra few minutes. Adam really really enjoyed this dish, although I felt it could have used just a teeny bit of a flavor boost. Or maybe I should have let the sauce thicken just a bit more to stick to the pasta better.

I was surprised though that we were both satisfied with the actual serving amount rather than going back for seconds like we normally do. I think the heaviness of the ravioli and the extra "meatiness" from the mushrooms really helped on that account. For as much as I roll my eyes on the cooking times laid out in Fresh Food Fast, I have to admit, they do have some wonderful, yet simple meals.

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 384	Calories from fat 145
% Daily Value
Total Fat 16.2g	25%
Saturated Fat 6.9g	35%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 38mg	13%
Sodium 610mg	25%
Total Carbs 43.9g	15%
Dietary Fiber 3.4g	32%
Sugars 4.2g
Protein 15.4g
Vitamin A 12%	Vitamin C 3%
Calcium 22%	Iron 19%