The Recipe Showdown
1 – Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie
2  - Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 – Crisco’s Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

We knew for a fact that all of these recipes were fantastic, but we had to determine the true champion. It wasn’t as simple as you might think. We thought Nestle’s recipe was deliciously buttery and saltier than the competitors. It’s dough was lighter in color than the other two and the cookies were crispier. The vanilla pudding cookies were admittedly chocolatey-er than the others because Lori couldn’t resist adding extra chips to her dough. The vanilla flavor seemed to come to life as the cookies cooled. The Crisco cookies had a very different flavor than the other two because it doesn’t use butter. We were split about whether or not it had a better flavor than butter based recipes, but the cookie definitely seemed richest of the bunch.

We really loved this tasting contest – any excuse to eat freshly baked chocolate chip cookies is fine with this crew! We couldn’t reach a group consensus at the tasting and walked away with out a winner… They were all SO good.

A day after the tasting, however, we noticed that the vanilla pudding cookies had disappeared while the Crisco and Nestle cookies still remained. While we definitely loved all three recipes, it seems the vanilla pudding chocolate chip cookie recipe is the best OR maybe we really love chocolate and like the cookies with the most chips.

You should hold a tasting of your own to determine the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. You can’t go wrong with these great recipes. We’ll leave you with a few quick chocolate chip cookie facts:

-Chocolate chip cookies were created in the 1930s by Ruth Graves Wakefield at her Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass.
-Approximately one-fourth of all cookies baked in the United States are chocolate chip.
- C is for Cookie! At least that’s what we learned from one of our favorite Sesame Street monsters. Enjoy his classic song below.

What’s the squeeze on Florida vs. California…

A Florida orange is easy to squeeze. The skin is very thin, and although it tastes good, it may not look very attractive, possibly having a blemished yellow or green coloring even when ripe.  Florida has a more humid climate which produces oranges with a green tinge. Because of their juiciness and lack of orange color, Florida oranges are best for making juice.  (Example:  Simply Orange®.)

Because California has a drier climate with cooler nights, the oranges produced there are thicker-skinned and have a full orange color. They are more acidic and less juicy than a Florida orange. California navel oranges are attractive, and considered best for eating out of hand, says the Wegmans Food Market website.²  Tropicana® juice was an example of a brand produced from California, but as of January this year, they have returned to using Florida-grown oranges.

The pulp-free Candidates: 

–Simply Orange®:  Gently pasteurized, six varieties of not-from-concentrate 100% orange juice.

–Market Pantry:  Target brand

–Tropicana®:  16 fresh-picked oranges squeezed into each 59oz container.  No water, sugar or preservatives, and it’s never made from concentrate.

The Results:  Even with a blind-tasting, it was pretty clear which juices made the grade as far as purity goes.  Market Pantry seemed to be the lightest in color, along with a watery-taste and a hint of being “fake”.  Simply Orange and Tropicana were similar in taste.  Both seemed as if they had been squeezed-fresh that morning.  One person described Simply Orange as having a “muddy-look” (as in cloudy and/or textured).  Color-wise, Tropicana appeared to have a thick, natural look with a pure orange taste: sweet and tangy.  After sipping each contender, we decided that Tropicana was the pick of the grove.

Orange-you glad you know a little more about orange juice?

¹http://abfla.com/1tocf/agriculture/oranges.html

²http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1903154#ixzz1uaj0APzC

Pumpkin Ravioli With Salted Caramel Whipped Cream

Yesterday a few of us took a break from our busy schedules to bake up the Grand Prize recipe from this year’s Pillsbury® Bake-Off®. The recipe is harder than it looks and even yummier than it sounds.

The flavors are very trendy. Salted caramel is everywhere and pumpkin is a close relative of the sweet potatoes none of us can seem to get enough of. The ravioli name is a little misleading, but the recipe is basically a filled pastry that uses Pillsbury® Crescent Roll Dough instead of puff pastry.

The recipe was a little fussier than we expected, but worth the effort. You need a pretty large work surface to roll out the dough and then the directions to cut a 3×2 inch square (note: that’s not a square!) were a little confusing, but we figured it out eventually. When doling out 1 Tbsp. of pumpkin filling, we went a little light for fear that they would burst in the oven when baking, but after eating the final product we’d recommend using all of the filling to get a better crust-to-pumpkin ratio.

If you want to omit the nuts from the recipe, it will probably work just as well. They seem non-essential to the ingredients, similar to nuts in brownies.

Give this recipe a try and you won’t be disappointed!

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons LAND O LAKES® Butter, melted
2 packages (3 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 LAND O LAKES® Egg Yolk
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons Pillsbury BEST® All Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/3 cup Fisher® Chef’s Naturals® Chopped Pecans, finely chopped
2 cans Pillsbury® Crescent Recipe Creations® refrigerated seamless dough sheet
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons Hershey’s® caramel syrup
4 tablespoons McCormick® Cinnamon Sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 375°F.

Brush 2 large cookie sheets with 2 tablespoons of the melted butter.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese and pumpkin with electric mixer on medium speed about 1 minute or until smooth. Add egg yolk, vanilla, sugar, 3 tablespoons of the flour and pumpkin pie spice; beat on low speed until blended. Reserve 4 teaspoons of the pecans; set aside. Stir remaining pecans into pumpkin mixture.

Lightly sprinkle work surface with 1 tablespoon of the flour. Unroll 1 can of dough on floured surface with 1 short side facing you. Press dough into 14×12-inch rectangle. With paring knife, lightly score the dough in half horizontally. Lightly score bottom half of dough into 12 squares (3×2 1/4-inch each).

Spoon heaping tablespoon of the pumpkin filling onto center of each square. Gently lift and position un-scored half of dough over filling. Starting at the top folded edge, press handle of wooden spoon firmly between mounds and along edges of pumpkin filling to seal. Using toothpick, poke small hole in top of each ravioli. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut between each ravioli; place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining 1 tablespoon flour, dough sheet and filling. Brush ravioli with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter.

Bake 9 to 14 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, in medium bowl, beat whipping cream and salt with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Beat in 2 tablespoons of the caramel syrup until stiff peaks form. Transfer to serving bowl; cover and refrigerate.

Remove ravioli from oven. Sprinkle ravioli with 2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar; turn. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar.

To serve, place 2 ravioli on each of 12 dessert plates. Drizzle each serving with scant teaspoon of the caramel syrup; sprinkle with reserved chopped pecans. With spoon, swirl remaining 1 tablespoon caramel syrup into bowl of whipped cream. Serve warm ravioli with whipped cream.

Recipe from pillsbury.com

Here are a couple of foods in particular that Oaxaca is known for that I fell in love with:

Quesillo (Oaxacan cheese) 

I would liken this to a sharper string cheese. It comes rolled like yarn in a seemingly endless ball, and it is put on everything. It melts fantastically into a gooey, stringy mess.

Quesillo in the market

Mole

Smoky, bitter, spicy, and a hint of chocolate. It comes in a million varieties, and mole negro is the region’s signature kind. Don’t try this at home; I have found that the best mole needs to come straight from Mexico. Most attempted recreations in the States can’t touch this complex, somewhat polarizing sauce.

Leave the mole to the professionals

Tlayudas

Many people will try to dub this as a “Mexican pizza”, but this is only to put it into some sort of American reference. I would say stale quesadilla…which doesn’t sound nearly as good, but is more accurate. This is because the tlayuda tortilla is best when it is past its prime and has a nice stale, chewy texture. It is put on open coals, then topped with Oaxacan goodies. The version I had included refried beans, tasajo meat, avocado, tomato, hot sauce and, of course, quesillo. It was crunchy, chewy, cheesy, and amazing.

Crunchy, chewy, cheesy tlayuda

Oaxacan quesadillas

Unlike quesadillas that most Americans are used to, Oaxacan quesadillas are similar to empanadas. Tortillas are stuffed with quesillo (I told you it’s put on everything!) then deep-fried. The version I ate in Puerto Escondido also had epazote (a tasty Mexican herb) inside, and was topped with refried black beans, spicy avocado-tomatillo salsa, shredded cabbage and queso fresco. This was the best thing I’ve ever eaten.

Oaxacan quesadillas

]]> http://www.foodstalkers.co/2012/04/food-in-oaxaca-mexico/feed/ 0 http://www.foodstalkers.co/2012/04/restaurant-review-of-rye-deli-in-minneapolis/ http://www.foodstalkers.co/2012/04/restaurant-review-of-rye-deli-in-minneapolis/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:00:26 +0000 infood http://www.foodstalkers.co/?p=1454 I popped in for a quick bite to eat with a friend on Tuesday at Rye Deli in Uptown Minneapolis. We arrived during happy hour to enjoy a few entrees, appetizers and local brews. I was struck by the nice, simple décor and interesting juxtaposition between the sports bar setting in back and the family oriented restaurant up front. The menu had a similar breakdown, everything from traditional deli dishes to burgers and fries.

 Speaking of which, the ketchup and fries were fantastic! The fries had that great home-style look, smell and taste. They were reminiscent of Convention Grill’s fries, which is just about the highest compliment I could give. They also came with sweet, homemade ketchup that I’d gladly buy and take home. Fries are the ultimate casual restaurant test for me, if they are anything but wonderful there’s no real reason to go back.

 For the main course I ordered a grilled salami sandwich and bowl of chicken noodle soup. I loved the bread and the spicy mustard, but the meat was a little heftier and chewier than expected. Still, the flavors were all there. The chicken noodle soup was nothing special, with more broth than was necessary. Word to the wise: if you’re going to serve a soup with that much broth, it should come with delicious bread.

 My friend ordered the corned beef sandwich. Open-faced with a great balance of ingredients, he gave it an 8 out of 10. He’s a bit of a corned beef snob though, so I’m sure the average joe would rank it higher. He wasn’t a fan of the pickles, hoping for a stronger vinegar taste.

In the end, I’d rather go to Rye Deli for happy hour than dinner. If you couldn’t tell, I loved the fries and I’m sure the other appetizers would be worth trying, too. They had a great wine and beer list, nice happy hour prices, free parking AND it’s on my way home. Win, win, win, win.

If you haven’t been there, give it a try.

&

If you have been there and didn’t order the fries, go back.

On Wednesday night we threw the following into a large mason jar:
1/2 Jalapeno pepper
1/2 Red pepper
1/2 Yellow pepper
1 Serrano pepper
1/2 Habanero pepper
1/4 Cucumber
2 Garlic cloves
Vodka

After storing it in a dark spot and tipping it back and forth a few times each day, we decided to test it out on Friday, roughly 48 hours later. I was a little concerned that either the flavoring wouldn’t be infused into the vodka quite yet, or it would be so spicy that we wouldn’t be able to handle it. We know the veggies that we put in are very potent, so a week would have been too long.

Turns out 48 hours were perfect. The bloodies were great! It had a pretty good kick to it, but we were still able to put it down. One thought it “tingled” but loved the fact you couldn’t even taste the vodka. It was too spicy for another, while most of us thought it was the perfect spice with a sweet taste as well. The vegetable flavoring really came through and gave it a fresh touch. I’d say it was a success overall, we’ll see what we come up with next. Let us know if you master some delicious vodkas!

Note: Do not eat the vegetables doused in vodka unless you like vodka straight up.

Almost anything edible can physically be infused with vodka. More common infusions consist of fresh fruits or herbs. Herbs (basil, rosemary, etc.) are especially popular for homemade infusions because they give off a strong aromatic scent, which makes for a bolder result.

The best part about food infused vodka is that you can DIY. Doing it yourself has much more appeal than paying a large sum to have a pretentious mixologist construct a cocktail that seemingly only lasts you about four or five sips.

The directions are pretty simple: cut food into pieces, place pieces into a jar, add vodka to the jar, store in cool-dark place, shake once a day and enjoy your brand new vodka about one to two weeks later.

One infusion that is becoming popular right now is a meat lover’s favorite: bacon. You probably have a favorite Bloody Mary recipe using “the” vodka that you swear by.  Now picture it with the salty, fatty, smoky flavorings of bacon-enhanced vodka to turn your morning hangover routine into a much more pleasant experience.  Hungover or not, a bacon flavored cocktail is definitely worth waking up for.

Ingredients

• 3 strips of bacon
• handful of peppercorns (optional)
• unflavored, quality vodka.

Directions

1. Fry the three strips of bacon.
2. Add the cooked bacon to a clean container, trimming the ends of the bacon strips if they are too long to fit.
3. Add crushed peppercorns, if you wish.
4. Fill the container with vodka, cover and place in a cool, dark place. Refrigeration is unnecessary.
5. After three weeks, put the mixture in a freezer so the fat congeals.
6. Strain the fat through a coffee filter.

http://bit.ly/GATLVQ

We’re definitely up for IN-fusing anything!

MEET THE CONTENDERS

• Athenos Roasted Red Pepper. Owned by Kraft Foods, the Athenos brand of Greek foods has become increasingly popular in the past year across the U.S.
• Sabra Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. Sabra, an American company out of New York specializes in dips and spreads from around the globe.
• Holy Land Hummus with Roasted Red Pepper. Based out of Minneapolis, Holy Land has been selling traditional Middle Eastern cuisine for over 20 years.

THE VERDICT

Most of us agreed that Athenos hummus had the most appealing color and texture. The Athenos hummus was smooth, but not too smooth—you could still see the texture of the chickpeas. Holy Land had a nice texture as well, but their coloring seemed the least natural. Overall, we were not fans of the “peanut buttery” color and texture of Sabra’s hummus, but the red pepper garnish still set it apart.

As far as taste goes, most of us felt that the natural and balanced flavors of Sabra beat out the strong cumin-y taste of Athenos and the overpowering red pepper flavor of Holy Land. Per ounce, they were all within a few cents of each other so cost wasn’t really a factor.

Bottom line, Sabra tasted the best—but we’d rather look at Athenos. What are some of your favorite hummus brands and flavors?

The darker the chocolate, the better it is for you. Some experts recommend at least 70% cacao to the get the maximum benefits. With that in mind, we decided it was time to put three chocolate bars to the test: Lindt Excellence Smooth Dark, Ghiradelli Twilight Delight and Theo Organic Fair Trade Rich Dark. All were within the 70% cacao range, with Ghiradelli being just slightly higher at 72%.

Our team swooned over the rich creaminess of Lindt’s bar. It had a slightly sweeter flavor and amazing smoothness that won us over. This brand emerged the clear victor with our group.

The Ghiradelli brand is definitely worthy of a nod for it’s rich sheen and clean chocolate flavor. Some of us preferred the flavor of this bar to all the others, but were swayed by the creamy texture Lindt’s bar offered.

Although we loved the unbranded simplicity of the Theo chocolate bar and its fair trade certification, most of us didn’t gravitate to its earthy aftertaste. One person described it as tangy, while others used less generous adjectives. As the most expensive of the three, the bar was unfortunately set a little higher for this brand.

The bottom line? You can’t go wrong with dark chocolate, but in our opinion, Lindt makes it all the more right.

National Cherry Month
Heart Healthy Month
National Fiber Month
Celebration of Chocolate Month
Oatmeal Monday (2nd Monday in February)
World Nutella® Day – February 5th
National Almond Day – February 16th
National Chocolate Covered Nuts Day – February 25th
National Pistachio Day – February 26th

I came up with this original Chocolate Truffle Oats recipe  –  loaded with goodness and deliciously decadent!

Chocolate Truffle-Oats filled with Dried Cherries & Pistachios and Figs

Chocolate Truffle Oats

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. butter
2 cups Country Choice Organic Rolled Oats
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
1/2 cup almond butter
1/3 cup Nutella®
3 Tbsp. coconut milk
4 oz.  dark chocolate

Filling:
1/2 cup dried cherries, finely chopped
1/4 cup pistachios, finely chopped
Or any dried fruit and/or nut combination (ex. figs, apricots, almonds)

Finishing (optional):
3 oz. dark chocolate, melted
Sea salt, ground

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9×13 sheet pan with butter. Spread rolled oats evenly on pan. Drizzle with maple syrup. Bake at 350ºF. for 25 minutes, stirring half way through.
Place almond butter, Nutella® and coconut milk in glass bowl and heat in microwave for 20 seconds or until melted. Stir in chocolate chips until well incorporated. Add baked rolled oats to chocolate mixture, stirring until evenly distributed. Take 1 heaping tablespoon and mold it around a teaspoon of dried cherry and pistachio mixture (or desired filling), forming a ball. Place on parchment-lined paper. Repeat with remaining mixture and filling.
Drizzle balls with melted dark chocolate and sprinkle with ground sea salt (optional). Makes approximately 36 truffle bites.

Do you have a favorite “healthier” treat? Please share!