Football Brownies

The last time I shared this recipe with you, I took out the chocolate chips and threw in huge chunks of peanut butter cups to make some incredible peanut butter brownies.

For Superbowl Sunday, I nixed the chocolate chips altogether and turned the brownies into footballs!  This was actually really easy.  Mix everything up as noted in the recipe, but instead of putting it in a regular 9 x 13 pan, I baked them on a foil lined cookie sheet.  I didn't actually measure it, but it was the biggest one I had - probably about 15 x 10 x 1 or thereabouts.  Obviously the bake time gets reduced too.  I baked mine for 12 minutes and they came out perfect.  There were a couple of crispy edges that I couldn't use for this particular project, but I have my brownie scraps in a ziplock bag and I have something in store for them this weekend.

After the brownies come out of the oven, let them cool in the pan for a little while.  Once cool to the touch but still a little warm (you don't want to burn yourself!), slowly and carefully lift the foil out of the pan and transfer to a wire cooling rack (or two) and let cool completely.

From there, I slid the racks out from underneath the brownies.  I pulled the foil away from the edges and started cutting away with my cookie cutter.  I cut the brownies really close to each other so I could get as many as possible.  I ended up with 20 brownies, though this amount will really depend on how big your cookie cutter is and what size pan you end up using.  The brownies are really fudgy in the middle, so I found that I had to cut a couple of times to get them to pull away enough for me to be able to separate my little footballs from the scraps.  With a little patience though, this was no big deal at all.

I transferred the football shapes back to the cooling rack and let them hang out for a little while.  They were already cooled off and ready for frosting, but since these are really fudgy, I wanted to let the tops harden a little bit more first to make sure I had a smooth surface for decorating.

I had originally wanted to use marshmallow fluff for the decorating, and if you look closely, you'll notice that some of the decorations are brighter and whiter than the others - those are the ones that had fluff.  Unfortunately, this was only a great idea in theory and not in practice, as the fluff was way harder to work with than I was anticipating.  I also wasn't working with a "fresh" jar, so the fact that it had already been opened may have impacted the squeezability of it when I was trying to pipe it on.

Instead, I decided to just make a simple confectioner's sugar glaze.  I knew I didn't need much, and even though it thickens up the longer it sits, I knew I wanted it to be a little bit thicker to start with.  I looked online to get some ratios (I am pretty terrible at math and can figure it out the relationships once I see the amounts/ingredients, but have a difficult time doing it by myself), then decided I was all in.

We had friends over while I was putting the finishing touches on these, and as soon as I was done and everything was cleaned up, I pretty much ordered the boys into the kitchen so they could take a look at my handwork.  It was only seconds before they started asking when they could eat them.  At the end of the night, there were only a few left.

Score!

Football Brownies

3/4 c. Hershey's unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 c. butter, melted and divided
1/2 c. boiling water
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a 15" x 10" x 1" cookie sheet with aluminum foil, leaving overhang.  Grease the corners and sides.

In a large bowl, combine cocoa, baking soda and 1/3 cup butter.  Add boiling water and stir until mixture thickens.  Mix in sugar, eggs and remaining 1/3 cup butter; stir until smooth.  Add flour and vanilla and stir until thoroughly combined.  Evenly pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 10-12 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  

Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then carefully transfer foil to a wire rack to cool completely.  Using a football shaped cookie cutter, cut out football shapes.  Decorate with icing.


Simple Sugar Glaze

4 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. milk


In a small bowl, combine sugar and vanilla. Mix in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until desired thickness is reached.  Carefully transfer to a piping bag or a zip-top bag with a small hole cut in the corner and decorate brownies as desired.

Bacon Wrapped Potatoes with Spicy Sour Cream Sauce

I wasn't going to post about these so soon, but I figured I should share at least one Superbowl recipe with you guys.

I saw the picture on pinterest, but it didn't actually lead to a recipe.  So.. I made it up.  Wrapping the potatoes in bacon was a little bit more time consuming than I had anticipated, so you'll want to leave yourself plenty of time.  Also, you kind of do want to pay attention to your potato pieces and make sure they're all about the same size.  I just guessed as I went and found myself having to trim a few as I was wrapping them with bacon.  Honestly, you'll probably just want to make them smaller than what you think you should.  Trimming some wasn't a big deal for the small amount that I made, but if you're planning on feeding a larger crowd, it's probably better to make sure they're the right size the first time.

Cooking the potatoes for this is a little tricky, too.  You want to the water to boil so that the potatoes cook, but you DO NOT want the potatoes cooked all the way through - if they're too mushy, they'll fall apart when you try to do the next steps!  I am not too sure how to describe the softness that you're looking for - fork tender, I guess.  You should be able to spear the potatoes with a fork without them falling off.

Once you drain them, make sure you rinse them with cold water to cool them off a little!  This will help slow down the cooking process, but it's also practical so you don't burn your hands!  I found it easier to cut the bacon into thirds as I went, so I didn't cut more than I needed, but the total amount of bacon depends on the number of people you're feeding.  As with all bacon stuff, make sure you drain on these on paper towels before you serve them - I found that some of the grease got trapped in between the bacon piece and the potato.

The sauce was so easy and so great.  I only added 1 1/2 tsp. of hot sauce to mine, because Joe doesn't like things that are too hot.  The sour cream does cool it down quite a bit, though, so you should be able to spice it up a good amount without burning the mouths of too many people.  For me, I would have definitely made it hotter, but sometimes, you've just gotta go with what the crowd wants and likes.  For game day, I think I'm going to chop up some chives or green onions and mix it in with the sour cream sauce so it really tastes like a little baked potato.  Man, I'm drooling just thinking about it!

The reaction to these was off the hook!  I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I love baked potatoes and I felt like these would taste pretty similar.  When the boys saw me take these out of the oven, they got so excited when they realized what they were about to eat.  When I presented the plate to them, they practically knocked me over in their quest to eat snacks.  Between the three of us, we devoured this plate in just a few minutes.

The recipe below makes about 3 dozen bites - increase accordingly based on your needs!  If you try this one, please let me know what you think!

What are some of your favorite Superbowl/party foods?

Bacon Wrapped Potatoes with Spicy Sour Cream Sauce
 3-4 potatoes
1 Tbsp oil
1 tsp. salt
garlic powder*
onion salt*
ground peppercorn*
smoked salt*
cajun seasoning*
6 slices bacon
4 oz. sour cream
1 1/2 tsp. hot sauce

*all spices are to taste.  these are what I used, but you can use whatever you like!

Peel potatoes and dice into about 1" cubes, keeping the pieces about the same size (it's okay if they're not the same shape).

Put the potatoes in a medium pot, cover with cold water, season with salt and bring to a boil.  Cook potatoes until they're fork tender but don't fall off the fork.  You want them to be almost cooked through but not mushy

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Drain the potatoes.  Rinse under cold water and transfer to a large bowl. Season with spices and oil, coating evenly.

Cut the strips of bacon into thirds. Wrap each potato in a piece of bacon, securing the ends with a toothpick. Put the potatoes on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until bacon reached desired crispiness.  Remove from oven.  Let cool for a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.  Combine the sour cream and hot sauce; serve.

Game Day Pretzels

If you've ever been to a pro sports game, you know that there are some delicious foods at the concession stand: soft-serve ice cream in little helmets, fried dough, hot dogs... and pretzels.  Oh gosh, the pretzels.  Warm and chewy, soft and salty.  Yummy.  Whenever Joe and I go to a game, at least one of us gets a pretzel while the other silently wishes they had gotten one, too.

We're huge football fans, and the season is in full swing here.  Pretzels are perfect football food because they're quick and easy to eat, but you can still cheer for your team while you eat one.  Joe went to help a friend move this morning, and while I had the house to myself for a few hours, I decided to make my own pretzels.

When I was a kid, my mom made us alphabet pretzels a couple of times, so we each got a little baggie of pretzels that spelled out our names.  They were DELICIOUS, and I always thought they were the hardest things to make.  False.  For me, the hardest part was twisting them into that familiar pretzel shape.

Okay, so getting them out of the boiling water was a little tricky, too, but only because I made my pretzels huge and my slotted spoon isn't that large.  Next time, I'm either making smaller pretzels OR I'm going to invest in some kind of larger spoon-strainer-scoopy thing.  Like all yeast bread recipes, this one is time consuming in that it takes a few hours from start to finish, but for most of the time, you're not really doing anything.  The active time on this recipe is maybe about an hour, but it's really broken up, so you have plenty of time to do other things, like try to beat that stupid level on Candy Crush or work out (guilty of both!).

I like to eat my pretzels plain, but Joe loves his with yellow mustard or nacho cheese.  I'm already thinking about making some cinnamon sugar pretzels next time.

What's your favorite football/party food?

Soft Baked Pretzels
To print this recipe, click here

Ingredients
2 1/2 Tbsp butter, cubed and at room temperature
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
2 cups warm water (110°-115°F)
1 packet active dry yeast
5 c. flour, plus more for kneading
10 cups water
2/3 c. baking soda

1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Topping
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp water
coarse salt

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine water, sugar and butter.  Sprinkle yeast on top and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Add 3 cups of flour.  Attach dough hook and mix on low speed ("stir" if you have a KitchenAid), gradually increasing to medium speed (3 or 4) as the flour gets incorporated.  Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Mix in the remaining 2 cups of flour until the dough gathers around the hook and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  The dough will be VERY sticky.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, adding more flour if necessary (I used about an additional 1/4 cup). and kneading until smooth and elastic - dough should not stick to your hands.

Lightly grease a large bowl with the vegetable oil.  Place the dough into the greased bowl, turning once to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap or put into a plastic bag and let rise until doubled in size, about one hour

Preheat oven to 425°F and spray baking sheets with non-stick spray.  Punch dough down and divide and shape into an even number of balls, roughly the same size (I made 8 but could have made more for smaller pretzels).  Roll each ball into a 24 inch long rope.  Bring the ends together to start to form a circle, then twist ends once and lay over the opposite side of the circle, pinching the ends together to seal.

In a large pot, bring water and baking soda to a boil.  Carefully drop the pretzels into the boiling water.  Cook for 30 seconds and remove with a slotted spoon. Transfer cooked pretzels to prepared baking sheets.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and water; brush over pretzels.  Sprinkle with coarse salt.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until pretzels are golden brown.  Transfer pretzels to a wire rack to cool completely or eat once cool enough to handle.  Serve with dipping sauce of your choice or eat plain.

Baked Buffalo Chicken Bites

At this point, the Superbowl is only hours away.  (Yes, I'm really writing this at 7am on a Sunday.)  IF you're having people over later, you're probably running around like a lunatic trying to put everything together and make sure you have everything you need - beer, food, toilet paper, etc.  You might also be making some last minute food... or scrambling to find one last thing to make.  Fret not, my friend, these buffalo chicken bites are easy to make AND they taste delicious! OK, so putting them together and getting them ready to cook is a little time consuming, but it's really worth it. Plus, they're baked, not fried, so you can clean up while they're in the oven and feel good about serving your guests something that's moderately healthy.

I made these back at the beginning of football season and I haven't had a chance to make them since.  Mostly, Joe doesn't really like buffalo chicken, but he liked these. Well, liked them enough to eat a couple, but he didn't like them enough for me to justify making 30 of them.  They're crunchy and spicy and the ranch dressing pairs perfectly (you can use blue cheese if you like that better, I'm personally not a fan).  They heat up decently in the microwave and make a tasty lunch the next day, though, so don't worry if you have leftovers.

Note that the recipe calls for using crushed up corn flakes instead of regular breadcrumbs.  If you have regular ones you can definitely use them instead, but the balls will be less crunchy.  At the very least, I would suggest panko crumbs so that you can get some of that crunch.  If you have a food chopper/processor or a blender, crushing the corn flakes is really easy.  If you have a child and/or someone who likes to smash things, it's also really easy - just put the cornflakes in a sealed plastic bag with all the air out, hand them a rolling pin and let them go to town!

Also, a note on the shredded chicken: I used 2 chicken breasts, boiled them in water until they were cooked through, then used two forks to shred them.  If you're short on time, you can use one of those store-bought rotisserie chickens, instead.  If you go that route, you'll just want to remove the skin first.

Now that the intro's out of the way, let's get down to business.

Baked Buffalo Chicken Bites
To print this recipe, click here

Ingredients
3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1/2 cup Frank's Original Red Hot (more or less to taste)
3 1/2 oz. brick cream cheese, softened
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup green onion
1 cup flour
4 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups crushed corn flakes

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the chicken, cream cheese and hot sauce until combined.  Stir in the cheddar cheese and green onions.

Roll the chicken mixture into 1 1/2-2 inch balls.  Put them on a plate or a separate, unlined baking sheet until ready to dip.

Set out the flour, eggs and corn flakes in three separate bowls.  Dip each chicken ball into the flour, then the egg, and then the cornflakes.  Place them onto the prepared baking sheet.

Once all of the balls are dipped, bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on the outside.  Serve warm with ranch or blue cheese dressing on the side for dipping.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

In keeping with the theme of football food, I have this recipe for pepperoni pizza puffs that I'd like to share with you today.  This is a modified Rachel Ray recipe.  I know, I know - a lot of people, Joe included, think she can't cook but that she's a pro at reheating ingredients.  I don't have too strong of an opinion either way, but I think that if it encourages people to try cooking at home instead of going out all the time, then it's probably a good thing - even if it IS just a matter of opening a bunch of different packages/containers and putting them all together.

At any rate, these things are so good!  I've made them a couple of times, once with the pepperoni and once without.  Without pepperoni, they pretty much taste like bread sticks.  They're still really good, but I think the pepperoni really helps pull them together.  You could probably also make these with some ground sausage or hamburger, but just make sure you brown it first so that the meat is cooked through and to prevent everything from getting really greasy.

They're also really easy to make, which is good if you're going to be making a ton of them for the football game.  It takes longer to cook them than it does to put everything together, so you can easily throw them in a little before the game starts or even at halftime when you need a second round of food.

Without any further ado...

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
To print this recipe, click here

Ingredients

3/4 c. flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning

crushed red paper, to taste

garlic powder, to taste

salt & pepper, to taste

3/4 c. whole milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

1 c. cubed pepperoni

1/2 c. pizza sauce

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Grease a 24-cup mini muffin tin.

Whisk together dry ingredients.  Add in milk and egg; stir until combined.  Stir in cheeses and pepperoni.  Let batter sit for 10 minutes.

Stir batter and divide evenly among baking cups.  Bake until puffed and golden, 20-25 minutes.

Serve with warmed pizza sauce for dipping.

Touchdown!

 

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

The Superbowl is upon us and... I just don't care.  It's not so much that my Patriots aren't in it - although that's definitely part of it - but really.. Joe Flacco and Ray Lewis? NOT INTERESTED.  I don't particularly care either way about the 49ers, either, but Colin Kaepernick kind of reminds me of Tom Brady - gets to start because his QB goes down with an injury, and holy crap he's pretty good! Also, there's still a week to go and I'm already SO. OVER. this Harbowl bologna.  We get it, they're brothers.  That should be like the side story, the human interest piece - maybe we could focus on the team playing and not their coaches? Just saying.

At any rate, I figured that since it's Superbowl time, I should share one of new favorite dips that's sure to be a hit at your party, whether you're getting together to watch to the commercials or you actually have more than a passing interest in either of the teams playing.

You see, I like baked potatoes.  A lot.  Scratch that.  I LOVE baked potatoes.  When Joe and I go to a steakhouse and I order a baked potato, I laugh at the waitress when she runs through the list of things I can get on it, because the answer is ALWAYS fully loaded. The only thing I don't like about baked potatoes is making them at home.  Well, that's not really true either.  I like making them at home, but I hate how long it takes - I want a baked potato NOW dammit, not in an hour and a half from now!

So, I was pretty stoked when I stumbled on this recipe for loaded baked potato dip. I modified it a little bit to work for one person, since I was nearly positive that Joe wouldn't like it since uhh.. he doesn't really like anything that regular people enjoy.  It was really easy to make, not that time consuming, AND delicious.  I still had to wait an hour, but if you're having people over, this is something you can easily make the night before or the same morning and it will be good to go when everyone starts.

Loaded Baked Potato Dip
To print this recipe, click here

Ingredients
16 oz. sour cream
7 slices of baked, cooked, drained and crumbled
2 scallions, thinly chopped (approx. 1/4 cup)
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I used the sharpest one I could find at the store)
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and mix thoroughly.  Cover and let sit in the fridge for at least one hour, so all the flavors can mingle and get to know each other.  Stir before serving.

These are really good with potato chips, but I also used it as a topping on a baked potato and felt like I had died and gone to heaven.  I bet it would be really good with Tostitos, too. I'll just own up to it now and say that this is also really good with a spoon.

You can adjust this recipe to taste, but the one caveat would be to make sure you use the full 16 oz. of sour cream.  I originally tried to use only half of it (since I was making it for one person, remember), but the dip was so thick and really hard to scoop that I ended up having to add the rest of it, anyway.

I normally just stick with the standard onion dip, but this was so good that I'm willing to switch it up and break from the norm.  What's your favorite kind of dip or party food?