Stuffed Peppers

Last night I made stuffed peppers for the first time. I was surprised how easy they were to make and they look quite fancy on the dinner table.

There are many different stuffed pepper recipes online. To make the peppers just cut the tops off and carve out the inside. Boil the peppers for five minutes and then stuff them with whatever filling you would like. I used a tuna casserole-style filling: tuna, celery, onion, pasta and cream cheese, salt and pepper. Then I topped them with bread crumbs and chedder cheese.

They were pretty good but next time I think I will try a spicy ground beef mixture, maybe with some guacamole and lemon juice.

Hawaiian or Mexican Wedding Cakes

These are awesome. they taste great and they look pretty. I used them last year in cookie boxes that I made for Christmas. Everyone loved them. There are plenty of recipes online, but they're all pretty much the same. There are just a couple of variations depending on if you are making Mexican Wedding Cakes or Hawaiian Wedding Cakes. I also double the recipe because...um, I want more cookies!

1/2 cup butter (soft)

1/4 cup icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (almonds or walnuts for Mexican or Macadamia nuts for Hawaiian)

(1/2 cup candied pineapple or coconut...if desired, for Hawaiian)

extra icing sugar on the side

Cream together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Beat in flour, nuts and pineapple or coconut (if using). Roll cookies into 1/2 inch to 1 inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes (mine took 11, but my oven sucks). Roll each cookie in the icing sugar that you kept aside. Don't burn your hands, let them cool for a second.

They preserve for a couple weeks if stored in a sealed container.

OK, you're done now, go eat them!

Madeleine Cookies

For the last year I have been addicted to carbonated water and madeleine cookies. Since I can't make carbonated water at home, I decided to go hunting for a madeleine cookie sheet so that I could save myself the money I've been spending at Starbucks on their cookies.

I found the cookie sheet last week ($30.00 was too much, I suggest looking at second hand shops) and I have been trying out some online recipes. If I ever find the perfect madeleine cookie recipe I may turn it into a cake recipe so that (if I ever get married) I can have a big madeleine wedding cake.

Here is the recipe I tried this weekend. These are not quite as moist as I would like but still very good. They are also dead simple, I whipped mine off in a matter of minutes!

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange peel

1 pinch of salt

1 cup flour

10 tablespoons unsalted, melted butter

Preheat the oven to 375 F. My cookie sheet is non-stick but if yours is not then it must be well-greased and floured.

With your electric mixer blend together the eggs and sugar.

Add in vanilla, lemon peel and salt.

Add flour and beat until blended.

Slowly poor butter over mixture while beating.

Add 1 tablespoon of batter to each space on the pan and bake until lightly browned around edges. This was 10 minutes in my oven, but could be anywhere from 10-15. The first batch that I made at 15 turned out way too brown.

Gently remove them from the pan and keep going until you are out of batter. I got 24 cookies out of this recipe.

Feel free to dust the cookies with powdered sugar.