Gourmet Cookie Bouquets Recipe Blog

Archive for June, 2008

Easier than pie (or cookies for that matter), these chicken caesar pita pockets are quick and delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups romaine lettuce, torn
• 1/3 cup Caesar salad dressing
• 31/2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
• 1 pound cooked chicken breast, cut into 3 inch long strips
• 1 1/4 teaspoon olive oil

Mix the ingredients together and spread into pitas.

For more chicken recipes, try these out:

• Honey Lime Cilantro Chicken
• Chicken Curry
• Balsamic Chicken with Mushrooms

Must like creating gourmet desserts, this recipe creates a scrumptious batch of biscuits. And who doesn't love homemade biscuits?

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, or 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 2/3 cup milk

The texture of the biscuits should be light and tender. The dough should be minimally stirred and kneaded to ensure a flaky crumb.

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease two 8-inch round cake pans.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar, and sugar. Cut the butter into the flour with two knives held together or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add the milk all at once and stir quickly and lightly with a fork for 30 seconds, just till the dough forms a ball around it.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 14 times. Pat to a 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into rounds with a 2 inch cookie cutter. (An empty 6 ounce tomato paste can also works well.)
4. Place touching each other in the prepared cake pans, about 9 rounds of dough per pan. Bake 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

For more breads or rolls, try these recipes:

• Banana Puree Bread
• Bread Dough
• Onion Herb Baked Bread
• Savory Bubbly Cheese Bread

No, it's probably not the recipe that you'd expect from a gourmet cookie blog. But sometimes you have to balance out your sweets and your meals, so we've opted to provide you with some tasty dinner options as well! And boy oh boy is this one worth a try.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound sirloin steak cut into strips
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic in oil
• 2 teaspoons grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 large onion cut into wedges
• 3 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
• 3 cups broccoli florets
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• Green onions sliced
• Chinese five spice powder

Heat non-stick frying pan until hot. Add beef strips, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. Stir fry for 2 minutes until meat is no longer pink. Add onion wedges, sliced mushrooms, and broccoli florets. Stir fry for another 4 minutes until broccoli is tender crisp. Combine bouillon powder, cornstarch and water in small cup. Slowly stir in beef mixture until thicker. Add onion and five spice powder and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. Serve alone or with rice.

See more beef recipes:

• Southwestern Burger Recipe
• Grandma's Delicious Stuffed Peppers
• Potato Pizza Casserole
• Spanish Hamburger
• Summer Steaks with Fresh Berry Salsa

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 cups cooked broad noodles
• ½ cup seedless white raisins
• ½ cup sliced blanched almonds
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons melted butter or chicken fat
• 2 tablespoons bread crumbs

Beat the eggs and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the nutmeg, noodles, raisins, almonds, lemon juice and melted butter or fat. Turn into a well greased ring mold or baking dish. Sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 50 minutes or until brown. Serve with meat or poultry dishes or as gourmet desserts with a sweet fruit sauce. Serves 6 to 8.

Need more pasta? Try some of these Italian recipes:

• Dairy Noodle Ring
• Noodle Kugel
• Green Noodle Pudding
• Flaishig Noodle Pudding
• Noodle-Apple Pudding
• Stuffed Noodles In Stew - Pancit Molo

If you're looking to make complete meal gifts, then these delicacies are just what you're looking for! Cut bite-size pieces from a thick slice of cured or smoked ham and substitute for the chorizo in the preceding recipe.

Note: You can stuff the pastries with cubes of leftover roast, bits of cooked chicken, hash, fried pork sausage, or any filling you chose.

Tartaletas

Open-faced tartlets are even more versatile than empanadillas. They can be made from the same dough and the shells can be baked hours in advance. The filling should be added no more than an hour before serving. There is a variety of cold foods suitable for fillings. Some suggestions are red caviar; anchovy with chopped hard-boiled egg; chopped chicken with mayonnaise; chopped tuna with mayonnaise and minced green olives; fish, fresh or canned, with mayonnaise and capers; cold vegetable salad with chopped cured ham. The tartlets take the form of boats in the sample recipe below, but they can be given any shape you wish; oblong, square, or round. Regardless of the shape, the baking of the shells is the same as in the following recipe.

Barcos De Anchovy A La Sevillana - Sevillian Anchovy Boats

• 1 RECIPE Empanadilla dough
• 2 small cans of pimiento
• Yolk of 1 hard-boiled egg
• Ground black pepper
• Rice for baking tarts
• 2 cans of rolled anchovies

Preheat oven to 375 degree F. Roll out dough, form small boats, prick bottoms in 2 or 3 places with a knife. Fill boats with raw rice to make them keep their hollow shape during baking. Bake in 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes or until firm. Discard rice. Shortly before serving, dice pimiento, soak it in the liquid from the cans of anchovy and season it with a little mashed yolk of a hard-boiled egg, and decorate with rolled anchovy.

Inspired? Try this recipe for Spanish Hamburgers.