Kick in the Pants Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have gone absolutely nuts over Melissa’s Hatch Chile Pecans. You may recall that I first used them in astoundingly good pesto (the recipe can be found here), then, when I’m not munching on them, have experimented with other recipes. Today I’m sharing one for chocolate chip cookies. Essentially it is your basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, with the addition of Red Hatch Chile Pecans. They taste like normal chocolate chip cookies, but leave you breathing fire at the end. OK, so it’s not fire, but it is a nice heat, that gives you quite a kick after the cookie is gone. It will definitely leave your nibblers wondering what on earth you put into these cookies, and they will be back!

Kick in the Pants Chocolate Chip Cookies

¾ c. stick Crisco

1¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 extra-large egg

1¾ cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup Melissa’s Red Hatch Chile Pecans

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Beat shortening and brown sugar in large bowl on medium speed with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in milk, vanilla, and egg.

Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir into shortening mixture until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 8 to 13 minutes until lightly browned. Cool 2 minutes. Remove to rack to cool completely.

Makes 3 dozen cookies (more or less)

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Green Hatch Chile Pecan Pesto

I just made the absolute best pesto that I have ever made in my entire life. My basil plants were starting to look a bit threatening, so I figured it was time for a harvest, and what better thing to do with fresh basil than to make fresh pesto? I’m not a fan of pine nuts, considering them a bit bland, so have never used them in pesto, I generally opt for walnuts. But, this season Melissa’s Produce introduced both Red and Green Hatch Chile Pecans (as well as almonds), so I used them. This stuff is heaven on earth! Who needs pasta? With this delicious pesto, all you need is a spoon.

Green Hatch Chile Pecan Pesto

2 large cloves garlic*
½ cup Melissa’s Green Hatch Chile Pecans
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups fresh basil
Scant ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

Place garlic, pecans, Parmesan, salt, and pepper into the work bowl of a food processor and pulse until it looks like course meal. Add basil, and pulse once or twice. Then, with motor running, slowly pour olive oil in through the work tube until everything is well blended and creamy. Store in an airtight container (drizzling the top with a little extra olive oil will keep it from turning dark). Best when used within two days. It freezes beautifully.

* Use more if you like things extra garlicky.

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Summer Pasta Salad

Last week was a crazy one. I’m not going to get into the details, but I will tell you that at one point, I decided to touch up the woodwork in the bedroom, and ended up painting it all! That was a lost day. At any rate, the deck garden is doing well, and cucumbers and green peppers are ripening in leaps and bounds. In addition to dicing and slicing the peppers to freeze for use during the winter, I’ve also used them just serve pasta salad with great results. Look how cute these are. It serves a dual purpose of using up one of my many (way too many) peppers, and saves me washing a dish, not to mention delighting my lunch guests with this clever edible “bowl.”

I had intended for this post just to be a brief one on a rather unique use for green pepper, but I thought I would toss in my recipe for pasta salad as well. I liked this one in particular, because I found the addition of dried cherries to be quite a pleasing one. I tossed them into the salad dressing to hydrate them a bit, and then mixed everything together. Wonderful!

Summer Pasta Salad

4 whole red, yellow, or green peppers

Dressing

1 T. Melissa’s Dried Tart Cherries

2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

½ cup olive oil

½ t. kosher salt

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper

½ t. dried oregano 

1 clove garlic, crushed

3 c. tri-color rotini, cooked according to package directions

½ c. cherry tomatoes, halved

1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1 English cucumber, seeded and diced

12 pitted Kalamata olives

½ cup diced red onion

1 c. feta cheese, crumbled

½ cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Cut the tops off of the peppers, as well as a tiny bit off the bottom to allow them to stand upright. Seed and remove any white pithy parts. Rinse and invert onto a paper towel to dry while you make the salad.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together lemon juice, oil, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic until thick and creamy; add cherries and chill. In a large mixing bowl combine pasta, tomatoes, green pepper, cucumber, olives, red onion, feta cheese, and parsley. Toss salad ingredients with dressing gently to coat. Scoop into hollowed out peppers and serve immediately.

Serves 4-6

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Spicy Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Crisps

It’s Hatch Chile season once again, and for me, half the fun is finding creative new ways in which to use them. I decided to go with something sweet this year, and made these spicy brownie squares using Melissa’s Hatch Chile Clean Snax in the topping. Considering how addicting Clean Snax are (the zesty Hatch Chile variety in particular), I figured the brownies would be as well. I wasn’t wrong. They are so good!

Spicy Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie Crisps

1 package Ghirardelli Chocolate Supreme Brownie Mix

1½ cups Jif Extra Crunchy peanut butter

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup Jif creamy peanut butter

1 cup Rice Krispies

1 cup crumbled Melissa’s Hatch Chile Clean Snax

Line a 13” x 9” baking pan with parchment, letting ends hang 2” over the sides. Prepare and bake brownie mix according to package directions; pour into prepared pan. Cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes. Refrigerate until cold.

Spread crunchy peanut butter over brownies. Place chocolate chips and creamy peanut butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals until melted; stir until smooth. Stir in Rice Krispies and Clean Snax; spread over chunky peanut butter layer. Refrigerate, covered, at least 30 minutes or until set.

Lifting with parchment, remove brownies from pan. Cut into bars. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

NOTE: Feel free to play around with the amount of Rice Krispies and Clean Snax. If you don’t want it quite as spicy, use ½ cup of Clean Snax and 1 ½ cups of Rice Krispies. Also, if spicy isn’t your thing, check out the other varieties of Clean Snax (almond and coconut are my two favorites), for an entirely different taste.

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Haviland Fruit Bowls...This Week's Find

When I was packing up my parents' things in preparation for selling the house, I did so in haste. I was careful, don’t get me wrong, but I tried not to dwell on individual items, just pack them up as quickly and carefully as I could. I am still unboxing things, and just the other day unboxed these beautiful fruit dishes (if that is indeed what they are), that you saw in this post. I was with my mother when she bought these, having no idea what she would ever do with them, just bought them because she liked them, but didn’t realize that they were Haviland.

What treasures! Like my mother, I have no idea what I’m going to do with them, but I suspect I will use them for cold salads or soups. They are a bit more dainty and delicate than what I’m used to, but I find, these days, then you can pretty much mix everything with everything.

Aren’t these lovely?

To see last week’s unique find, click here.

Slow Cooked Red-Eye Roast Beef Sandwiches

All in all, I can’t complain about the summer. We had a delightful month of June, my plants are going crazy, I’ve been able to enjoy the deck, and utility bills have, largely, behaved themselves. As such, a week of temperatures near 100°, while not my favorite, I am willing to accept. I am, however, not willing to heat up the kitchen with cooking. During this week, out came the slow cooker, and I experimented with a variety of recipes. I found that I really liked this one, born from my making way too much coffee one morning. Nothing is easier, it’s hearty enough for dinner fare, will greatly please the carnivores in your life, and if any remains (I’m laughing here), it freezes beautifully.

Slow Cooked Red-Eye Roast Beef Sandwiches

1 (4-lb) boneless chuck roast

1 T. olive oil 

2 T. Grill Mates Smokehouse Maple Seasoning

½ c. strong, brewed coffee

½ c. beef broth

1 t. Liquid Smoke

2 T. Worcestershire Sauce

Spray the inside of a 6-quart oval slow cooker with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, stir together the coffee, beef broth, and liquid smoke; pour into the bottom of the slow cooker.

Rinse the chuck roast and pat dry with a paper towel. Drizzle with olive oil. Rub the chuck roast on all sides with the Grill Mates seasoning. Center the roast in the slow cooker. Drizzle the top of the roast with Worcestershire sauce.

Cook on low for 7-8 hours until fork tender. Remove from the slow cooker and, using 2 forks, shred the meat, removing all visible fat.

Separate fat from the cooking liquid using a fat separator; discard fat. Stir 1/2 cup of the cooking juices into the beef. Reserve the remaining juices to serve alongside, French dip-style.

Top the warm beef sandwiches with slices of onion, pickles, a slice of cheese, or sautéed mushrooms.

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Easy Plum Cobbler

As traditional as plum season, so is my making a cobbler from that most welcome summer stone fruit. I dabble with the recipe every year, and I think this is my best combination of ingredients yet. Whether you are as big of a fan of plums as I am, or can take them or leave them, this recipe will rock your world! It is super easy to make (one of the many things to love about plums is that you don’t need to peel them like you do other fruit), lovely to look at (nothing beats that jewel-tone coloring of summer plums), and remarkably delicious.

Easy Plum Cobbler

1 1-lb. container Melissa’s Magenta plums*, pitted and sliced
½ lemon zested and juiced
1 T. cornstarch
½ t. vanilla extract
½ t. almond extract
Pinch of ground cinnamon
½ c. granulated sugar
1 c. flour
1/3 c, powdered sugar
½ T. baking powder
½ t. kosher salt
½ c. cold butter, cubed
½ c. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray an 8” x 8” baking pan or 1½-quart baking dish with PAM; set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, toss together plum slices with lemon zest, lemon juice, cornstarch, vanilla extract, almond extract, cinnamon, and sugar. Spread evenly in the prepared baking pan.

In the work bowl of a food processor, pulse together flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter, until it resembles a course meal. Pour in cream, and pulse again until a thick batter is formed. Dollop batter on top of the fruit. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*or seasonal plum or your choice

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