Bacon & Chocolate Chip Cookies

The theme of unexpected ingredients is continuing this week with... bacon and chocolate chip cookies?! Almost every person who hears that asks again to make sure they heard correctly. Yes, Cookie Monster's and your dreams have come true (Unless you're really not a bacon fan. In that case, stay tuned!). I've made these once before and was pleasantly surprised by the combination. Soon as I saw this recipe had the twist of added sea salt, I had to try them again. You truly do have to love bacon. Still, the bacon was subtle and added an interesting flavor to what is always a perfect cookie!

Bacon & Chocolate Chip Cookies Topped with Sea Salt 

Yield: 2 dozen cookies Prep time: 20 minutes Bake time: 10 minutes 

Ingredients 
1 cup flour 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 
6 tablespoons granulated sugar 
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
4-6 strips cooked bacon, cooled and crumbled
1 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 
Sea salt 

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

2. Combine flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside. 

3. Cream together butter with granulated and dark brown sugar until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Using a hand mixer on low speed, gradually blend in the flour mixture until incorporated. Gently stir in bacon and chocolate chips. 

4. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto the pan, 2 inches apart. Sprinkle a tiny bit of sea salt on top of each cookie. Side note: The dough gets really sticky so shaping the cookies can be tricky (rhyme almost unintended). You might have to add small bits of dough to some of the cookies depending on the size. 

5. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Allow to cool on a cooling rack then store in an airtight container. Enjoy! 

Recipe adapted from Knead to Cook 

Penne with Zucchini & Mint

It's vacation week!! You know what that means - tons of new recipes will be tested this week. I'm so excited to have some time off, mainly because finding time to cook a real meal between internship and class is almost impossible. This is why a big goal of mine lately has been finding quick recipes that don't involve dinosaur chicken nuggets or peanut butter (haven't paired these in the same dish... yet). 

This first one comes from Ellie Krieger, who is definitely one of my cooking idols. Besides the fact that she's always eerily calm, she has a gift for making healthy food absolutely delicious. Every recipe in her book, So Easy, has been awesome so far and I can't wait to keep trying more. Each recipe is written in a way that makes it seem doable, even if you're totally freaked out in the kitchen. Another sad plus: eating healthy meals feeds my delusion that veggies can balance out the constant presence of cupcakes and cookies in our kitchen. 

Seeing the words mint and pasta in the same title made this recipe a little scary. I've only ever used mint in mojitos and it was starting to feel like an Iron Chef challenge (and the secret ingredient is..... MINT! ::Gasp::). But, it's such a unique combination that I had to try it. It turns out that all my fears were unwarranted - the pasta was delicious!! It was so light and the mint added a pleasant little pop of flavor. Jeff and I almost finished the pot, so this is definitely something to hide away if you're one for portion control. I could see this pasta being great with other veggies too such as squash or mushrooms. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did :)

Penne with Zucchini & Mint 

Yield: 4 servings Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes 

Ingredients
1 box (13.25 ounces) whole-wheat penne pasta 
1/4 cup olive oil 
4 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced 
2 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch thick half moons 
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese 
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves 

Directions
1. Bring a large pot of salted water (1 teaspoon of salt will work) to boil over medium-high heat. Add the penne and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. 

2. While the pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and cook over medium-low heat for 6 minutes, or until garlic is lightly browned. Side note: It is super easy to burn garlic! I've done it more times than I'd like to admit. If the garlic is looking brown before the 6 minutes is up, it would be safe to move on to the next step. 

3. Add the zucchini and stir to incorporate. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6 to 8 minutes or until zucchini is tender. Remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice, zest, pepper and salt.  

4. Drain the pasta then return to the pot. Add the zucchini and sauce, Parmesan cheese and mint. Toss to combine. 

Recipe adapted from Healthy Eating with Ellie Krieger

Sour Patch Cupcakes (aka Blizzard #4)

Immediately after first seeing these cupcakes, I'd been dying to make them. They looked so cheerful and fun - it was honestly just hard to imagine an occasion that would call for the neon, mouth-puckering sweetness of these candies. Alas, my dad's birthday was this week and I knew exactly what to make him. Since I can remember, he has been able to down sour candy (Sour Patch Kids, Sprees, Warheads) like no one else. Proud to say I definitely inherited this tendency from him, which may or may not be due to the Warhead contests we would have. I absolutely love anything sour and have no problem eating a lime all on it's own. 

In preparing for this recipe, I really had NO idea what to expect. It was a little intimidating at first, mainly because it involved a couple extra steps that I hadn't experienced as a newbie. I was fully prepared for our kitchen to look as if the night's blizzard had somehow whipped through the apartment. While we're on the topic, here's a quick side story to help you imagine the disaster that so often becomes our kitchen...

A few months ago, I was crunched for time but was determined to make brownies for a friend's party. I was lucky enough to have some Ghirardelli Brownie mix in the pantry (SUCH delicious brownies, by the way). The mix bags are definitely child proof and I was having an especially difficult time opening it. Grabbing scissors was just one extra step that didn't seem necessary. I put the bag in the mixing bowl with the hope that it would catch any stray mix. Then, I just got too impatient and decided to rip the bag open with all my might. POOF!! The mix exploded and landed in places I had never even imagined. For a minute, time stopped and all I could hear was chocolate chips hitting solid surfaces all over the table. Needless to say, I used scissors to open today's bag of Funfetti mix (definitely worth the extra 5 seconds). 

In the end, these cupcakes were fun to make but very time consuming! Filling cupcakes was a first for me, but it went as smoothly as could be. The effort was all worth it and I'd recommend these to anyone. The frosting was just sour enough and the jelly somehow gave the cupcakes a fresh flavor to balance the sour. Highly recommended, regardless of whether or not you have an affinity for sour candy. 

Sour Patch Kid Cupcakes 

Yield: 24 cupcakes Prep time: 2 hours Bake time: 15-17 minutes

Ingredients
Cupcakes
1 box of Pillsbury Funfetti Cake Mix --> Absolute favorite, especially for birthdays!
1/2 cup strawberry jelly 

Lemon Buttercream Frosting (Recipe adapted from Sprinkles Frosting ) 
1 3/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
5 3/4 cups powdered sugar 
Zest of 2 lemons 
5 tablespoons lemon juice 
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
Green, pink and orange neon gel food coloring 

Topping
1/4 cup True Lemon crystallized lemon
1/4 cup sugar 
Sour Patch Kids, of course!


Directions
For the cupcakes...
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcakes according to directions on the box and bake for 15 minutes, or until cakes spring back to the touch.

2. Transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. 

3. Pour strawberry jelly into pastry bag with a round tip. Insert tip halfway into each cupcake and fill until jelly appears at the top of the cake. 

For the frosting...
1. Cream together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. 

2. Add zest, lemon juice, vanilla and salt. Using a mixer, blend all ingredients until combined. 

3. Divide frosting into three small bowls, about 1 1/2 cups in each bowl. 

4. Proceed to add coloring to each bowl of frosting until you've achieved the desired color. To match the fluorescent neon color of these candies, it took 25 drops of food coloring (yikes!). You'll end up with what looks like three bowls of insanely colored Play-Doh. These cupcakes were frosted with a pastry bag using a small star tip. After this endeavor, I will definitely be investing in a few more pastry bags. Washing out the bag in between applying each color took forever! Luckily, I had all the time in the world with the blizzard raging on outside (yes, again). 

Side note: This frosting started to harden after only a short time. If it becomes difficult to work with, stir in a drop or two of vanilla for a smoother consistency. However, the thicker consistency had the perk of giving me a serious arm workout during the frosting process! 

For the topping...
1. Combine True Lemon and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle lightly on top of frosting and top each cupcake with a Sour Patch Kid. Enjoy! 

Side note: There are different suggestions for whether or not to refrigerate cupcakes with fruit filling. While these definitely taste best at room temperature, it is probably safest to refrigerate these. Cupcakes can be kept for up to 5 days.