culinary experiments and explorations

With the chilly weather coming on, I find myself more and more in favor of comfoting, savory soups. This weekend is no exception -- and with a Penzey's Spices quarterly/recipe book in hand, I decided to try a variant on chicken and dumplings.

( Spicy Baked Chicken & Dumplings Soup )

Thick, savory stew with plenty of chicken and tasty dumplings to top it off -- an absolute winner in my book! For me, adding the lemon pepper spicing to season the chicken breasts made it particularly delicious, but for others that may be a touch too spicy.

The original recipe calls for double the amount of dumpling mix, which was way too much for me. I made the full amount and dropped the dumplings into the broth, but rapidly found myself out of space in the pot for more dumplings. Thus, I've halved the amounts for that part of the recipe. Honestly, I feel as though the recipe could even use a bit more broth -- with that much chicken and veggies as a base, the soup pot was crowded even before the dumplings went in.

Overall, though, I will absolutely be making this recipe again. Simple, straightforward, not too long to cook, and incredibly tasty -- four things that make it a winner in my book.

After the fun of the Ramble Bake-Off, I decided to start experimenting more with cookie recipes. I spotted one recipe on a Livejournal site that included Heath Toffee chips, and immediately thought about adapting it for use in one of my own baking projects. The result was better than I expected, and the cookies themselves turned out both subtle and savory.

( Toffee Chip Cinnamon Molasses Cookies )

Adapted from another one of the discovered trove of Chinese recipes, I kind of threw this one together from a couple of different sources. I tinkered with some of the quantities on the ingredients, because parts of it seemed far out of proportion to what else was up there. Nonetheless, I ended up with a surprisingly tasty result -- pleasantly comparable, I must argue, to the kinds of Chinese dumplings (potstickers, specifically) I've eaten in restaurants or bought in frozen packs at the market.

( Juicy Fried Dumplings )

( Hoisin Dipping Sauce )

Overall, I was very pleased with the way these came out. For cooking the potstickers, I do recommend edging towards a 7-minute cook time rather than 6 minutes -- it makes them a bit crisper without being overcooked. Your mileage may vary, of course.

A few weeks back, someone posted this recipe onto an LJ cooking community. Annoyingly, though I copied the recipe into a file I neglected to note whose recipe it is. Grrrr. So if this is your dough recipe, speak up and I'll gladly give you credit!

( Pizza Dough (used for Pepperoni Calzone) )

Long post, I know, but so worthwhile. I so should have taken a picture of this when it came out of the oven, but it looked so delicious I just tore into it. I'll take a picture when I make another tomorrow with another portion of the dough.

Now, as to taste: I've dabbled with a handful of different pizza dough recipes before, and most of them have seemed too starchy or too crunchy. This, however, was nothing of the sort. Baked, it was crisp yet still soft and pliable, and combined with the pizza sauce, cheese, and pepperoni made an absolutely fantastic light meal. I can honestly say it turned out to be one of the best calzones I've ever had, and coming from me that's saying a lot. I absolutely plan on making this recipe again, and I recommend it to any pizza or calzone lover.

As to toppings other than pepperoni... well, practically anything can be used. I worked in a couple of pizza shops on and off for more than a year, all told, and if you can imagine it (and it has no bones or anything inside) it can most likely go on a pizza. Particular combinations that I can recall include:

* Hawaiian: slices of ham and diced pineapple on red sauce
* Chicken Luau: use barbecue sauce instead of red sauce, top with diced chicken, pineapple, bacon, and green onions
* Stromboli: red sauce with salami, pepperoni, Italian sausage, and mushrooms
* Vegetarian: red sauce with mushrooms, green pepper, diced tomatoes, sliced onion, black olives, and/or artichoke hearts

But pretty much anything is possible. I'll see if I can't rustle up a recipe for a decent garlic white sauce as well, for an alternative to the red sauce -- even though, for me, the red sauce hits the spot. : )

I decided to get a bit of an early start on the whole 250-new-recipes-in-a-year project, and after a quick stop by the grocery store for various supplies got home and began working on my first piece. (This recipe is straight from Emeril's Potluck, page 267.)



( Glazed Lemon Pound Cake )

( ... with Lemon Glaze. )

Despite my complete inexperience with making cakes (I've only made cookies, muffins, and the solitary attempt at bread in the past), this turned out astonishingly good. It's sweet, light, incredibly delicious cake and the sweet tartness of the lemon glaze adds an excellent kick. I just about had a foodgasm when I took my first bite. Highly recommended, and I'll no doubt be making this again in the future... either for others, or to keep all to myself. : )

Crossposted from Kitchenklutz.

Last Monday, I'd tried out a recipe for big soft ginger cookies on AllRecipes.com. They turned out alright, but not quite as good as I'd hoped -- they were actually a bit softer than I would've preferred, and not quite as gingery. I modified the recipe, and I came up with ( Crisp Ginger Cookies. )

Overall, I was quite pleased with the way this batch turned out. Well-spiced with ginger, aromatic, and just crispy enough while still remaining chewy. The cayenne adds a warm afterburn that hits just as the main taste of the ginger is beginning to fade - overall, as near to perfect as I've ever gotten with a ginger snap.

Crossposted from Kitchenklutz.