I prefer my rattler with extra Nutella or nothing at all!

I'm officially changing my name to Halloween Queen.  I had way too much fun making all the Halloween recipes you've seen this week.  I have no idea where some of my ideas come from, but I was fooling around in the kitchen and before you know it I was making a s'mores rattlesnake.

I wanted it to be easy enough for a kid to make with a little help.  Take a large square of graham cracker and cut the corners off to make a diagonal shaped head. Cut graham cracker squares down the center into rectangles. Cut a tail piece out of a rectangular piece of graham cracker.

Smear Nutella on the pieces and cut marshmallows in half with kitchen scissors and place them cut side down on the snake.  For the tail piece pipe a few stripes of peanut butter with peanut butter placed in a disposable piping bag and add a few chocolate chips as rattles.

Then blister the top of your marshmallows under a broiler or use a kitchen torch.  Just be careful not to melt the marshmallows, just give your snake a nice sunburn.  Attach a few snake scales (toasted sliced almonds) with the peanut butter in the piping bag.  Give your snake a couple of candy eyes and a licorice mouth.

I decided to have my rattler snake around the celery and carrot sticks but you could have him slither anywhere you'd like.

I have to get on costume making duty for the next couple of days, but hope to have the final two recipes up for you next week so we can keep this party going.

Enjoy,

Gina

Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies filled with Nutella and Chewy Salted Caramel

I wiped my kitchen whiteboard calendar clean the other night so I could bring September into our lives. The school bell rang for us here over a month ago and we have been slowly getting back to some degree of normal. Last Saturday I took my daughter dress shopping for the homecoming dance and we picked up two adorable dresses because she like me has a problem choosing between two good things.

Both dresses had their merits and depending on her mood for the evening I could see both being absolutely perfect. I let her get both and told her we could take back the one she doesn't use. I also know her well enough to know that I just bought her two dresses. Now that they have a home together in her closet they aren't going anywhere.

When she was little I would have sworn she was a carbon copy of her dad, but now that she has gotten a little older I am starting to see nuances that remind me so much of myself. Take for example the cookies I wanted to make the other day, they had pretty much everything one could want in a cookie Hazelnuts + Nutella = Draw a little heart around the whole thing. But no, I stuck with my more is more mantra. If those are going to be a dream come true I couldn't help but believe that pushing them over the edge with the addition of Chewy Salted Caramel could only make them double hearty.

Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies filled with Nutella and Chewy Salted Caramel

Hazelnut Shortbread:
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and ground
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg

Also need: Small amount of Nutella about 1/2 of a cup.

Toast hazelnuts on a sheet pan in a 350 degree F oven for 5 minutes. Let cool.

Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and mix on low speed for 1-2 minutes, add flour, salt, egg, and ground hazelnuts. Mix until combined.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll dough until 1/4” thick.

Cut cookies into rounds with a fluted circle or any cookie cutter of your choice. Gather scraps and roll again and use the rest of the dough.

Place cookies onto a baking sheet lined with a silpat or parchment paper an inch apart.

Bake for 8-10 minutes in 350 degree F oven.

Let cool. I got about 24 cookies.

Chewy Salted Caramel
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup heavy cream (measured with a dry measuring cup instead of a liquid measuring cup)
Pinch flake sea salt

Combine sugar and water in a small heavy skillet and heat on medium high until the sugar in the pan is turning amber in color. Add the cream and whisk until combined, sprinkle a pinch of the salt over the top and let caramel cool.

Smear the bottom side of half of the cookies with a healthy amount of Nutella and smear the bottom half of the remainder of the cookies with an ample amount of caramel and combine them for a wild romp in cookie heaven. 

Don't say I didn't warn you though, once you go Nutella and Salted Caramel your psyche will be forever altered - forever (say that aloud in slow motion so you get the full effect).

Enjoy,

Gina

Nutella and Apricot Streusel Sweet Rolls

I've been having a hard time getting the girls out of bed these days; so a couple of weekends ago I made them a huge pan of cinnamon rolls that got them up quicker than I don't know what. There is just something about the smell of baked goods in the morning.  Maybe instead of those white noise machines, alarms should come with baked goods smells; I'm on to something here - right!

I got a second request for the cinnamon rolls a couple of days later; instead I thought I'd change them up a bit.  I had my daughter's friend Megan over and could you believe she had never had Nutella; I had to fix that.  Upon scouring my pantry, I found these dried apricots begging to be used.  I think you can see where I am going with this.

Dough

2 cups milk (I used 1%, but use what you have on hand)
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
4 1/2 - 5 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Heat the milk in the microwave on High power for 2 minutes until the temperature reaches 110 degrees F.  If you overheat it, just leave it on the counter to cool for a few minutes.  Add the yeast to the top of the milk, let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.

I just guessed at the two minutes and looky there, yeah I'm that good lucky!

Add the 4 1/2 cups flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and vegetable oil to a mixer with a dough hook.  Mix on low speed until the dough starts coming together.  If the dough is still very wet, add the other 1/2 cup flour, till the dough is starting to have a little better shape.  Knead for 2 to 3 minutes on low speed, cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour.

You can do the dough by hand, just knead the dough for a few minutes on a flour covered board and place it back into a bowl that has been oiled.

Apricot Streusel & Nutella Filling
8 ozs. dried apricots
1/2 cup oats - old fashioned
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup Nutella
2 tbsp. heavy cream

Add apricots, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon to a food processor and pulse until the apricots are broken down into small pieces.  Set aside.  You could also add some nuts here and it would be good, the girls said, "No" to the nuts, but I think I would have liked them in there.

Add the Nutella and heavy cream to a small saucepan and heat on low.  Stir until creamy and pourable.  Add a little extra cream if needed.

Place risen dough onto large floured surface.  I like to cover my counter with freezer paper and use it to roll out large dough, it makes clean up a snap.

Roll the dough out into a large rectangle about 1/2" thick, I didn't measure it, but it was about 24" by 16".  With the widest part of the dough facing you.

On top of the dough sprinkle the apricot streusel and drizzle with the melted Nutella, leaving 1/2" around the edges empty.  Roll the dough starting with the longer side, which should be facing you.  Make sure and roll the dough as tightly as possible.  When you get to the end, pinch the seam.

Be sure and lick the pot clean of any extra Nutella.  Come on, who wants to wash extra pots anyways.

Cut the roll into 1/2" to 1" slices and place into a greased casserole dish 13" x 9", may need two dishes depending how small you slice the rolls.  I place the rolls leaving a 1/2" gap or so between them.  Cover the pan with plastic wrap.

I also like to add a sheet of parchment to the bottom of my pan; it ensures easy removal of the rolls.

Rise in the pan for 30 minutes, remove plastic wrap prior to baking.  Bake in 400 degree F oven for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown.

When these were hot out of the oven, the girls just put a knife full of Nutella on the top for icing.  A powdered sugar icing would work well too.  I did both, because I'm wrong like that.

Breakfast anyone?

Enjoy,

Gina