Valentine's Week

Warning: This is what your kitchen will look like if you decide to make 2 kinds of cookies at the same time in a small kitchen:


How do you mess Rice Krispies up? I don't know. But I did it. Luckily I was able to save the sugary buttery goodness from the trash with a few extra marshmallows. Hopefully after a few more years of marriage I can master this staple. This is what's left of it:

The edible Valentine is the absolute best kind of valentine!

My sister, Suzanne told me that she and her husband make their own pizzas on Valentine's Day every year instead of trying to beat the restaurant craziness. GENIUS! Mark and I decided to adopt this idea and tried it for ourselves. Turned out GREAT.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Mix together: (it was easy to hand stir, could probably use Bosch)
1 c. warm milk (I just realized I made it with water. Too funny. Tasted fine that way.)
1 T. yeast
3 T. olive oil
3 T. honey
3/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, a little at a time

Just mix everything together. It doesn't really need much time to rise. Make the dough, then go prep all the other ingredients, and then it will be READY to ROLL (no but seriously-Get it? Roll the dough out....)!

Roll dough out into two 16" thin crust pizzas. Bake at 450 degrees for about 4 minutes with nothing on it. This is so the middle gets cooked for sure, and also it makes for a delicious crispy crust.

Then load it with toppings, starting with the first listed, ending with the last, (except the cilantro) adding more cheese at the top. Add the cilantro for the last few minutes of baking so it still looks nice and fresh.

For the chicken: 1. Simply mix a pieced apart rotisserie chicken from the story and mix it in your favorite BBQ sauce. 2.Fry chicken chunks in olive oil and mix with 2 T. BBQ sauce.

Things To Put On Top Of Pizza:
Tomato Sauce
Fresh Basil
Garlic Salt
Salt and Pepper
BBQ Chicken
Mozzarella (+Gouda?? = :))
Red Onion
Thinly Sliced Green Peppers
BBQ Chicken (just mix some shredded/chunks of chicken in some your fav BBQ sauce
Cilantro


Ok. This recipe makes 1 million cookies!!! I halved it and I still was able to give plenty away, and also satisfy my personal cookie needs. "Lemon Ricotta Cookies".... sounds crazy, right? Don't worry about it. It works really nicely! They're cakey and lemony and just a hint of sweet from the icing. :) MARK even liked them, and he ONLY likes Chocolate Chip Cookies! (What's his problem??)

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze
Yields: too many cookies. Like 7 dozen or something, so maybe half it

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup softened butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15 oz.) container ricotta cheese
3 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
zest of one lemon

For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp. lemon juice
zest of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or siplat.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir with a fork to combine and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well to incorporate, scraping down the bowl between additions. Add the ricotta cheese, the lemon juice, and lemon zest. Mix to combine. Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until incorporated.

Spoon the dough onto the baking sheets (about 1 tablespoons per cookie). Bake for 12-15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the glaze, in a small bowl combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest. Whisk until smooth. Spoon a small amount of glaze onto each cookie and spread gently using the back of the spoon. Let the cookies sit to allow the glaze to harden, about 2 hours. Store loosely covered.

http://www.delish-blog.com/2010/06/lemon-ricotta-cookies/

I just love how the lemon speckled icing drizzles off the sides of the cookie..... it's so .... dreamy.


This is a picture of my lovely chocolate chip cookies I made! I am trying to find a favorite CCC recipe, but there are just SOSOSOSO many to experiment with and so many variables. Tell me what your favorite recipe is, please! Requirement: I will only use 1 stick of butter or less per batch. Don't ask why. Maybe because it makes me feel better about my frequent trips to the fridge on my days off for a spoonful of cookie dough. It doesn't help that Mark gets me to make him CCC about once a week, only increasing my trips to the fridge.