Love Cupcake

Churros

Making churros has been something that I have been wanting to try and make for a long time.They always intimidated me a little bit, they looked hard to make but are actually really easy. They remind me of being in Disneyland when I was little. They are so deliciously sweet, and it''s hard to not just eat one. I have been PVR Giada De Laurentis show Giada at Home. I love her show and watching all the delicious food she makes, I am always hungry at the end of each episode. She made Churros on one of the episodes and made it look so easy that I just had to try.

Churros

(adapted from Giada at Home)

Ingredients:

1 cup water

6 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tbsps sugar

2 tsps cinnamon

pinch of salt

2 eggs, at room temperature

 

1. In a small saucepan heat up the water and add the butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Allow to boil.

2. Once the water mixture has come to a boil add 1 cup of flour. Turn off the stove and stir gently. The flour will absorb the liquid. Turn the stove on low and, cook for 2 minutes. The mixture will come together, turn off the heat. Add to a stand mixer and turn on. Add one egg at a time. Continue mixing until the dough has cooled down, you can check by feeling the bottom of the bowl with your hands.

3. While the dough is cooling down in the mixer, prepare your sugar mixture. Place the following ingredients in a shallow bowl and sitr together.

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsps ground cinnamon

4. Place canola oil in a large pot and clip a thermometer to the side of pot and allow to reach 350F.

5. Place dough in a pastry bag with a large star tip (Wilton 1M). The dough will thick and smooth in texture. With one hand pipe the dough into the oil and cut off at desired length with your other hand using scissors. The churros should take about 3 minutes to fry. Once the churros have fried, place immediately in the sugar mixture and spoon the mixture over top the churros. Transfer to a paper toweled plate to allow the extra oil to absorb.

Enjoy and, try not to eat all of them in one sitting!!

Summer Iced Tea

There is nothing to me that says Summer like homemade iced tea.It's so delicious and refreshing on a hot Summer day. Quenches your thirst. And it's easy to make and you can experiment with different kind of teas. It also reminds me a bit of my childhood. This recipe is from my Mama, she's awesome.

Summer Iced Tea

4 or 5 orange pekoe teabags (depends on how strong you like your tea)

4 cups of boiling water

3 cups water

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 lemon

 

1. Boil water. Place 5 teabags in a container that can hold hot liquids. I put my boiling water and teabags in a Pyrex jug. Pour boiling water over teabags and allow to steep and cool.

2. Once the tea has cooled, pour into your desired pitcher and add 4 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and the juice of one lemon. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

 

You can add more or less sugar as you please. I like it a little bit sweet. Don't be afraid to try with different teas. I have made iced tea with rooibos tea and green tea. Both very delicious and refreshing as well. Happy Summer!!

Oatmeal, Cranberry and Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These cookies should actually just be called "chunky" cookies. They have so many delicious chunks of chocolate in there that you kind of forget about the oatmeal and cranberries. But I thought I should include some of the other ingredients in the name of the cookie rather than just chocolate. But they're good. And kind of healthy. These are from watching another episode of Giada at Home, I have a growing collection on my PVR that I have to watch and write down recipes still. These are good, they'll disappear so quickly you'll have to make another batch.

 

Oatmeal, Cranberry and Chocolate Chunks Cookies

(adapted from Giada de Laurentiis)

1 cup flour

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg, at room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup dried cranberries

4 oz of bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped ( a bar or chocolate chips can be used)

 

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together dry ingredients; flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla to creamed mixture and mix together.

4. Add the dry ingredients in batches to the wet ingredients. Scrape down sides of bowl and paddle. Add the oats and mix together. Add the dried cranberries and mix. Add the chopped bittersweet chocolate to the mixture and mix.

5. Using an ice cream scoop to spoon the cookies onto the baking sheet. Use the back of the spoon to press down the tops of the cookies. Bake for 15 minutes, and until the bottoms are golden brown. Allow to cool. Bakes about 2 dozen cookies.

I ran out of cranberries so, I mixed in some raisins as well and they tasted delicious. As well as I had no bittersweet chocolate, only semisweet and again delicious. Enjoy!!