Barbecue season is upon us, and many of us are hoping to enjoy some socially distant outdoor time with friends and family. So I wanted to share the perfect recipe to bring along to a barbecue: homemade baked beans!
This recipe takes about an hour and a half to make but can be made ahead of time. The beans can be served warm or at room temperature.
Ingredients (makes 10 servings):
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bell pepper, chopped (I used a yellow pepper)
2 (15 oz) cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 (15 oz) cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 tablespoon hot sauce (I used Tobasco Chipotle)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons stone ground mustard (or any mustard you prefer)
Note: I received a bottle of Nielsen-Massey’s Pure Vanilla Extract in order to write this post. All opinions are mine alone.
I have quite a few holiday cookie recipes on my blog. I even highlight a cookie recipe on my Instagram every day leading up to Christmas. But I have never tried to make fudge before. So when Nielsen-Massey contacted me about highlighting their Holiday Flavors Bundle, I was excited to find a holiday-themed Gingerbread Fudge in their recipe section!
The fudge uses Nielsen-Massey’s Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, one of the extracts included in the Holiday Flavors Bundle. The Holiday Flavors Bundle also includes their Pure Almond Extract and their Pure Peppermint Extract, so you’re all set for your holiday baking!
Source: https://nielsenmassey.com
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups white chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup molasses
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract, like Nielsen-Massey’s Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract
sprinkles, if desired (I used red and green sprinkles)
I’m hoping you’ll allow me to post one more cookie recipe this season. These Chewy Gingerbread Cookies are too good to not post!
Every year, my mom and I bake multiple cookie recipes to give to friends and family. While there are some that we bake every year, (like these Hot Cocoa Cookies), we try to make a new cookie each time. After many years of trying to make gingerbread cookies and failing at the decorating part, we decided to try making gingerbread cookies instead.
This recipe makes a wonderfully soft and chewy cookie all with the yummy flavors of gingerbread.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
My slow cooker gets such a workout this time of year. But I’m not willing to fully give up “summer” foods just yet. I had a craving for baked beans recently, so I decided to make a batch in my slow cooker and serve it with a cheeseburger and cornbread. Yum. This recipe is a “Boston Baked Beans” recipe, meaning it uses molasses in the recipe.
This recipe uses bacon that was sent to me by ButcherBox, a company that delivers 100% grass-fed beef and other protein to your door. The company partners with a collective of small farms to deliver high quality products at an affordable price.
Butcher Box is a subscription service, so the boxes are mailed monthly.
The boxes come with 7-10 pounds of meat (20+ servings). There are a bunch of options: All Beef, Beef & Chicken, Beef & Pork, or Mixed (Beef, Chicken & Pork, which is what I received).
The Mixed box includes 100% grass-fed beef, organic chicken, and all-natural pork. Most of the meat comes frozen (the bacon was not), so you can stick it right in your freezer and eat when convenient for you. I’ll have future recipes using the rest of the ingredients in the box, but for now, they are in my freezer.
This recipe also includes the best way to make bacon, in my humble opinion. Making bacon in the oven allows you to make quite a bit at a time, and the bacon doesn’t shrink up as much as it cooks. On to the recipe!
Ingredients:
1 pound dry navy beans, soaked in water overnight
10 oz bacon, cooked and cut into bite sized pieces
Note: I was sent a Glass 3 Qt Baking Dish with Lid, Glass 2 Qt Baking Dish with Lid, Brownie Spatula, and Illuminating Digital Hand Mixer from OXO. All opinions are my own.
September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month. Every year, OXO donates up to $100,000 to support an organization called Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. The organization was founded by two OXOnians (OXO employees) who were inspired by their son Liam’s battle with pediatric cancer, a disease which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer provides inspiration and support to allow anyone to easily get involved in fundraising to find a cure for pediatric cancer.
I’ve posted twice a year for the last few years to help bring awareness to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. Click here to see some of my past posts.
Each year, OXO donates $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blogger post up to their $100,000 commitment. This year, OXO asked us to use a recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s newest cookbook, Dorie’s Cookies while using some of OXO’s great baking tools. Dorie’s Cookies includes over 200 recipes from classics to brownies to savory cookies, with some great baking tips thrown in.
I decided to make a recipe in the cookbook named Mary’s Maine Bars, named after a recipe developed by Dorie’s recipe tester (Mary Dodd) after a family trip to Maine. The bars are a delicious, chewy gingerbread that is perfect for the fall. One of the alternative to the recipe suggested swirling apple butter into the batter, so I tried it out!
Since I returned from my honeymoon in Ireland a few weeks ago, I have been craving Irish Brown Bread like crazy. Served typically with breakfast, Irish brown bread is made with a coarse whole wheat flour, resulting in a hearty bread different than anything I can easily find here in the U.S.
The difference is really in the flour. To get the right consistency, you’d need to purchase a wholemeal flour, sometimes labeled as “Irish-Style,” which can be somewhat difficult to find (although it is available online.)
So when I was offered the chance to try out the Mockmill, a grain mill attachment for the KitchenAid Mixer, I jumped at the chance. I can make my OWN Irish-Style flour!
Besides my very specific reason for wanting to mill my own flour, there are a bunch of other benefits to using a grain mill. Grinding from whole wheat berries at home means that the bran and germ stay in your flour. A bunch of the “good stuff” is found in the bran and germ: fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants. However, the germ is removed from commercial flour because it reduces its shelf life; the oil in germ can turn rancid, so home milled flour should be used in 1-2 weeks, or stored in the freezer.
The Mockmill, designed by Wolfgang Mock, is nicely compact. (As a city dweller, I very much appreciate this.) I love that it attaches right to my stand mixer; it’s really simple to set up and begin using right away.
source: Mockmill
You adjust the coarseness of the grind by twisting the front of the mill. The mill uses self-sharpening ceramic-bonded corundum grinding stones, which can produce a very fine flour if needed.
The Mockmill grinds flour directly into the mixing bowl, really convenient if you’re using it immediately like I am!
Cleaning the Mockmill is also a breeze; the mill can be separated easily and rinsed to clean any minimal residue left from milling.
Mockmill is offering I Can Cook That readers a really sweet deal, available until August 31:$80 off (that’s over 30% off!) two different package options through this link if you use the code icancookthat.
The packages come with everything you need to begin milling at home: the Mockmill Grain Milling Attachment for Stand Mixers, a variety of whole grain berries to get you started, plus “Flour Power” by Marleeta Basey, a comprehensive introduction to the benefits of home milling! Be sure to check them out here.
Note: the price listed is the original price. Add the code icancookthat at checkout to receive $80 off. The sets of books, grains, and Mockmills are being especially made for this promotion so delivery times may vary.
To test out the mill (and make me some oh so yummy brown bread,) I decided to start with a relatively simple version of Irish bread, a yeasted version from the Ballymaloe House in County Cork, Ireland. This version of their recipe comes from David Lebovitz, and is super easy to make.
Each year in the fall, OXO adds a little sticker to select baking items to help spread the word and raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. A portion of the proceeds from each product sold with the sticker is donated to the cause.
Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a recognized 501c(3) public charity duly incorporated under the laws of the state of New Jersey. Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. 100% of proceeds raised by Cookies for Kids’ Cancer fund pediatric cancer research.
In addition to the proceeds from sold stickered products, OXO will be donating $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blog post dedicated to this campaign in October (up to our $100,000 commitment*.)
*In 2015, OXO will donate up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer through product proceeds, bake sale matches and other fundraising efforts
So, here is this year’s blog post for #OXOGoodCookies! I have been in a chocolatey mood since participating in #Choctoberfest last week, so why not add a bit more chocolate to our lives?
These cookies really bring the chocolate: dark chocolate cocoa powder gives the cookies their dark color, espresso granules enhance the chocolate flavor, and chopped hazelnuts add some crunch!
Ingredients:
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (or light brown sugar with 1 tablespoon molasses added)
Halloween and dessert go together like peanut butter and jelly. Or maybe that’s only true on my blog (I have quite a few Halloween desserts on here). Who cares? More yummy desserts for us to enjoy, like these Pumpkin Gingerbread Cookies!
Although most people don’t usually equate Halloween with cookies, I saw Halloween-themed cookie cutters in the supermarket and made an impulse buy. Whoopsie. So these cookies are to justify my purchase. Plus, it gives me another excuse to add pumpkin into a recipe! I adapted this recipe form a traditional gingerbread cookie recipe from Cooking Light.
I was recently sent Truvia’s new Brown Sugar Blend, a mixture of Truvia and Brown Sugar that offers a brown sugar-like taste, texture and volume, with 75% fewer calories than regular brown sugar. One half cup of Truvia Brown Sugar Blend (210 calories) provides the same sweetness as one cup of brown sugar (830 calories).
Truvia is also having a great contest right now: the Truvia Baking Star contest. Bakers can submit two-minute videos that feature their own original Truvia Brown Sugar Blend recipe on www.TruviaBakingStar.com, to win a trip to New York and an all-expense paid professionally-filmed baking video that will be promoted by the brand. Three finalists will be brought to NYC for a bake-off, where they’ll meet Truvia brand reps, reporters and editors of top media publications.
Here are the details:
From September 16 – October 14, 2014, fans can submit their videos via www.TruviaBakingStar.com.
From October 21 – October 30, 2014, fans can vote for their favorite of 10 semi-finalists.
Shortly after October 30, 2014, the three finalists with the most votes will be notified that they have won an all-expense-paid trip to New York City with a guest.
On November 19, 2014, the three finalists’ baking skills will be judged live by the YouTube Star judges and the Truvia® Baking Star Contest winner will be announced.
Three finalists will win an all-expense-paid trip to New York City, where they will compete in a live bake-off event on November 19, judged by YouTube stars April Moore, Byron Talbott, Joanne Ozug and Gaby Dalkin. The winner will be awarded the title of Truvia® Baking Star. He or she will win a professionally produced and promoted video, and his or her recipe will be featured on Truvia.com.
Summer months are just meant for barbecue. And not just barbecued foods on the grill; your slow cooker can make some mean pulled pork for you as well! This recipe for Pulled Pork with Bourbon Peach Barbecue Sauce is perfect for a crowd and is great on a kaiser bun with some coleslaw!
I found this recipe in my Cooking Light magazine, made it over the weekend, and enjoyed it during the week for a quick meal to assemble. I also froze half of the pork to bring to the beach for my extended family to enjoy and it held up great! I changed the recipe a bit because I ended up with a 5.5 pound pork shoulder so I altered the amounts to compensate for that.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
It is too darn hot to be using the stove/oven, don’t you think? The grill is a great option for hot days, but we have recently been getting the most inconvenient thunderstorms right around dinnertime. I wanted to find some recipes that are perfect for summer but can also be made in a slow cooker so your whole kitchen doesn’t heat up. This one for Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken Sandwiches is really easy to make: you brown the chicken, line the slow cooker with onions and garlic, pour the sauce over the chicken, and let it cook for 3 hours. You’re left with a really tender pull-apart chicken perfect for summer evenings!
I promise I’ll stop my cookie binge after this post. I was looking for a somewhat “adult” cookie for a bake sale at work and I came across this recipe for Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies. Ginger and lemon cookies? Hmm. This recipe takes a long time (a lot of refrigerating, freezing, etc.) so if you plan on making these Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies, make sure you have a good chunk of time, around 2 hours.
but they are so pretty it’s worth it!
Ingredients
Ginger dough:
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of ground allspice
Lemon dough:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg white
the zest of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
To make the Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies, begin by making the ginger dough. In a medium bowl, add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and allspice, stir with a whisk to combine.
Add 1/4 cup butter and the brown sugar to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium until well combined.
You will end up using an entire egg in this recipe. To remove the yolk from the egg white, crack the egg over a bowl carefully. Split the two ends of the egg and move the egg from shell piece to shell piece until the white falls into the bowl and the yolk is left in the shell. Reserve the egg white for the lemon dough.
Add molasses and egg yolk to the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until combined.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the lemon dough, add 5 tablespoons softened butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix at medium speed until blended. Add the egg white and beat until combined.
Add lemon rind, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and vanilla using a mixer to blend.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat at low speed just until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.
Unwrap ginger dough. Roll ginger dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 8 1/2–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). (I honestly just eyeballed this). Chill 10 minutes.
Unwrap lemon dough. Roll lemon dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 9–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). Basically I just tried to make it slightly thinner than the ginger dough. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Chill 10 minutes.
Carefully stack ginger dough on top of lemon dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border along one long edge.
Starting with the long side without a border, roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion. Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll). Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the freezer. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough. Cut with a sharp knife into 40 slices (I got 39 out of mine, so close!)
Arrange slices 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake one batch at a time for 9 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
So I can’t lie, this Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies recipe has to be one of the most time consuming and difficult cookie recipes I’ve ever made. But the result is pretty awesome. I was so proud of myself when they turned out looking like pinwheels!
You primarily taste the gingerbread, but the aftertaste is a light lemony flavor.
I thought these two flavors might compete with each other, but they end up being quite complimentary. Who knew?
Also, these Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies are pretty snazzy looking aren’t they? 🙂
These Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies are not soft chewy cookies (like a chocolate chip), they are more firm than that. They would probably be awesome dipped into some tea. Yum!
Two cookie recipes rolled together to create these yummy ginger and lemon pinwheel cookies!
Course Dessert
Keyword Cookies, Ginger, Lemon, Pinwheel
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Chill Time 1 hourhour20 minutesminutes
Total Time 2 hourshours
Servings 40cookies
Ingredients
Ginger dough:
1/4cupunsalted buttersoftened
1/3cuppacked dark brown sugar
1/4cupmolasses
1large egg yolk
1 1/3cupsall-purpose flour
3/4teaspoonground ginger
3/4teaspoonground cinnamon
1/4teaspoonsalt
1/8teaspoonground nutmeg
Dash of ground allspice
Lemon dough:
5tablespoonsunsalted buttersoftened
2/3cupgranulated sugar
1large egg white
the zest of 2 lemons
1/2teaspoonlemon juice
3/4teaspoonvanilla extract
1 1/3cupsall-purpose flour
1/4teaspoonsalt
Instructions
Begin by making the ginger dough. In a medium bowl, add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and allspice, stir with a whisk to combine.
Add 1/4 cup butter and the brown sugar to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium until well combined.
You will end up using an entire egg in this recipe. To remove the yolk from the egg white, crack the egg over a bowl carefully. Split the two ends of the egg and move the egg from shell piece to shell piece until the white falls into the bowl and the yolk is left in the shell. Reserve the egg white for the lemon dough.
Add molasses and egg yolk to the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until combined.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the lemon dough, add 5 tablespoons softened butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix at medium speed until blended. Add the egg white and beat until combined.
Add lemon rind, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and vanilla using a mixer to blend.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat at low speed just until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.
Unwrap ginger dough. Roll ginger dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 8 1/2–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). (I honestly just eyeballed this). Chill 10 minutes.
Unwrap lemon dough. Roll lemon dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 9–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). Basically I just tried to make it slightly thinner than the ginger dough. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Chill 10 minutes.
Carefully stack ginger dough on top of lemon dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border along one long edge.
Starting with the long side without a border, roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion. Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll). Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the freezer. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough. Cut with a sharp knife into 40 slices.
Arrange slices 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake one batch at a time for 9 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
Notes
If you make this recipe, share a photo on Instagram and tag me @icancookthat!
It’s difficult to not associate barbecues with Labor Day weekend. The unofficial end of summer is usually spent the same way summer began on Memorial Day: relaxing (preferably at a beach) and enjoying the company of friends and family while eating burgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken. Well, there was no beach for me this weekend, but I was still able to “grill” despite the kind of crummy weather so that I still got my barbecue fix. Cooking Light has a surprisingly simple looking recipe for Pulled Chicken Sandwiches that I just had to try.
Ingredients:
For the chicken:
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
Cooking spray
For the sauce:
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon molasses
Remaining ingredients:
8 sandwich rolls, toasted
Pickles, your choice
Don’t let the number of ingredients deter you from making this. It really is simple! The original recipe actually used dark brown sugar, but I had light brown sugar on hand. Feel free to use whichever one you happen to have. You can substitute chicken breasts for this, but thigh meat adds extra juiciness to the sandwich that you really don’t want to miss out tasting.
Begin by preheating your grill. I was stuck indoors, so I just used a grill pan.
Combine first 7 ingredients (light brown sugar through ginger) in a small bowl. I somehow misplaced my measuring spoons so I kind of eyeballed all of these ingredients. Don’t worry about getting the perfect amounts, it’s more about the proportion to the other spices.
Rub the mixture evenly over the chicken.
Place chicken on a grill rack coated with cooking spray.
Cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until a thermometer registers 180 degrees, turning occasionally.
Let stand for 5 minutes.
Shred with 2 forks.
Set to the side for now.
Prepare your onions. If needed, slice your pickles. My boyfriend prefers sweet pickles so we bought the mini ones and minced them for an easy topping.
To prepare sauce, heat oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Stir in 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and the next 5 ingredients (chili powder through ground red pepper) and cook for 30 seconds.
Add ketchup, vinegar and molasses.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.
Stir in chicken and cook for 2 minutes, making sure the chicken is thoroughly coated in the sauce.
Toast the buns.
Place about 1/3 cup chicken mixture on bottom halves of the toasted roll.
Top with pickles if desired.
This recipe was promising from the start. I haven’t seen my boyfriend so excited for a meal I’m cooking in a long time; he even offered to help out! (He worked on grilling and shredding the chicken while I prepped and worked on the sauce, it really sped up the cook time). And this recipe really delivered. It tasted like it had slow cooked for hours, subtly sweet and spicy at the same time. I really don’t like pickles, but my boyfriend had his topped with pickles and said it really made the sandwich that much better.
This meal could easily be used in the winter months to remind you of the warmer weather. You could make this as I did on a grill pan, or to really enhance the flavor, you could cook the chicken in a slow cooker for 5 hours on low.
