Recipe: Gertie's Loving Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Cookies

From Denny: These little lovelies are great for a make and take event or after school snacks. Awww, come on, so what if the kids are grown up or you don't even have kids, make them anyway and indulge with a tall glass of milk or a cup of steaming hot coffee or tea. They are worth every bite! :)

There is a sweet story that goes along with these cookies from the family of the lady who made them: Harvey Hittner of Decatur, who said his mother, Gertrude, "put love in her cookies, " including this peanut butter variety. "My mother was known all over New York as the greatest cookie maker, " he said. Just before she died, she had baked her peanut butter cookies. "We put a batch in the freezer and ate them sparingly over the next year. Every time we tasted one, we felt Mom smiling down on us."

From: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Hands on time: 20 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
Serves: 45

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine or butter, room temperature

1 cup chunky or crunchy peanut butter

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

About 45 jumbo semisweet chocolate morsels

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the margarine, peanut butter and sugar until very light. Add the egg and beat well. Add the flour and baking soda and beat just to combine. Form the dough into 1-inch balls and place 1 inch apart on baking sheets. Gently flatten each ball with the tines of a fork pressed in one direction and then across at 90 degrees to make a checkered pattern. Place one chocolate chip in the middle of each cookie.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes until the cookies are golden on the edges (not browned).

Notes:

These cookies freeze extremely well. Bake a double batch and store some in your freezer for whenever you want to share a little love.

Nutrition:

Per cookie: 101 calories (percent of calories from fat, 54), 2 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 6 grams fat (2 grams saturated), 6 milligrams cholesterol, 71 milligrams sodium.

Video and Recipe: Fried Peach Pies

From Denny: Here's a Southern food favorite: fried peach pies! This chef shares the secret to light and crispy sweet delights!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Classic fried peach pies

From: Chef Scott Peacock

Makes: 24 pies

INGREDIENTS

Pies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1⁄4 cup lard
• 3 cups unbleached all-purposeflour
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 8 to 12 tbsp. ice water
• Peach-fig filling
• Peanut oil for deep-fat frying
• Sugar

Peach filling

• 3 cups ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice

DIRECTIONS

Dough

1. Place butter and lard in the freezer for 10 minutes.

2. Place flour, salt and the 1 teaspoon sugar on a large cutting board. Mix them with your fingers to blend. Place cold butter and lard on flour mixture. Use a pastry scraper or large kitchen knife to roughly cut butter and lard into the flour mixture. (Some butter and lard will be finely cut in, and some will be in 1⁄2- to 3⁄4-inch pieces.)

3. Working quickly, gather the flour mixture in a mound. Use your fingers to shape a lengthwise trench through center. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the ice water along the length of the trench. With upturned fingers toss and fluff together flour mixture and water. Repeat to reshape, sprinkle ice water, and toss and fluff. After incorporating 8 tablespoons of ice water, dough should begin to clump. If necessary, repeat to add more water.

4. Gather rough dough with a pastry scraper. Working quickly, use the heel of your hand to smear (push away) egg-size pieces of dough, one at a time. Regather dough and repeat process.

5. Gather dough in mound. Wrap in a double-thickness of plastic wrap. Press with palms of hands to flatten. Refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

6. On a lightly floured surface, roll chilled dough about 1⁄2-inch thick. Brush excess flour from surface of dough. Fold dough in thirds, brushing flour off the underside of dough as it is folded over. Lightly press layers together with a rolling pin. Wrap dough in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

7. On lightly floured surface, roll out cold dough to an even 1⁄8-inch thickness. With 3-inch round cutter, cut 24 circles, rerolling dough as needed. (If dough becomes warm, transfer to baking sheet and refrigerate about 5 minutes.)

8. Spoon a generous teaspoonful of filling on center of each circle. Lightly moisten dough edges. Fold in half, pinching edges to seal. Refrigerate sealed pies until ready to fry.

Peach filling

Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, salt and nutmeg. Sprinkle over the diced peaches and toss. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until the peaches soften and the sauce thickens. Stir in lemon juice. Cool completely before using.

Optional: Sweet potato filling (can be substituted for peach filling)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. On foil-lined baking sheet bake two medium-size sweet potatoes for 1-1/2 hours or until very soft. Meanwhile, remove stems and half dried figs (to equal 1/4 cup, packed). Place in small saucepan; barely cover with water. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, about 15 minutes until softened. Cool slightly, drain, and finely chop. Stir in 1 tablespoon honey; set aside. Remove potatoes from oven and cool slightly. Peel potatoes. In a large bowl mash potato flesh until smooth. Mix in 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, 1-1/2 teaspoons packed brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. Stir figs into sweet potato mixture. Cool completely before filling pies.

Cooking

1. Fill a very deep 10-inch cast-iron skillet half full with oil. Heat over medium heat to 365 degrees Fahrenheit. Fry pies, a few at a time, about 3 minutes, until golden brown, turning as needed to cook evenly.

2. Drain on cooling racks.

3. Cool slightly; roll in sugar.

Serve warm or at room temperature

Video: Singer Bill Withers Pranks USC Football Team

From Denny: This is from ESPN of all places. When do I watch sports? Rarely. But, as I was crossing the room in the house my husband had on ESPN and they were profiling the Southern California team, the Trojans, and a favorite musician was there talking to them: Bill Withers. It's also inspirational.

Turns out he was invited there by the head coach to pull a prank on the team. It's really cute and funny. As Bill Withers said to the team, "You've been punked!" And they all cracked up laughing.

Beautiful Angel Photo, Quote, Healing Poem Link

Psalm 91:11 - And He will give His Angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways.

Yesterday I wrote:

From Denny: Since this particular poem was a hard write, and I'm a bit emotionally tired and saturated to say the least, here's the link to my latest poem over at The Social Poets, called Rock, My Children. Found some awesome art photos over at flickr to illustrate it!

Rock, My Children is about how to deal with loss. Never planned on writing about these experiences but lately there has been so much news about people encountering terrible loss in their lives. And, here it is the 911 anniversary, a tough day for so many folks all over the world.

When I was fishing around for inspiration I found Robin's blog Naked in Eden and some of those word phrases sprinkled throughout one of her posts just struck me right (like "abyss of emotion") and before I knew it the poem was forming in my head. Went to flickr first before writing it down as the poem was still a lot of raw emotions swirling and I needed some visual anchors.

Rock, My Children deals with loss, disappointment, and looking to the future for understanding Life's Plan. When you ask the question, you receive the answer though it may take fifteen years like it did in my case.

Received an incredibly awesome comment from fellow spiritual blogger Robin from Naked in Eden after I sent her the link to show her how she had inspired me to write the poem. Just skip on past the poem to read what she has to say it's that great! I've been grinning silly all day - and behind in my posting - since she posted that loving comment...

Rock, My Children, go here.

Make Your Own Cajun Blackened Seasoning for Fish or Chicken!

Photo of Cajun blackened drum fish from chef Paul Prudhomme at his New Orleans restaurant K Paul's by wallyg @ flickr


From Denny: Seasoning spices are a personal thing for cooks everywhere. We all have our own way of doing things. Some like a lot of spice, others tone it down. OK, so my middle name is practically "garlic" but who's noticing, right?

Seriously, whenever I've moved out of Louisiana it was the seasonings I first missed. Sometimes, you can't get a hold of your favorite brand. Worse, you've traveled in America, experienced yummy New Orleans or Lafayette racetrack food, go back to Europe and no proper seasonings to be had on the grocery shelves. Then that wonderful taste experience starts to dim in your memory... Well, we can't have that! :)

Here are a few recipes to get you started. Try making a few and adjusting after you try it, that's what I always end up doing, adjusting to personal taste. You should be able to find these ingredients anywhere in the world.

Cajun Blackening Seasonings RECIPES

Recipe #1

This is a more exotic version of the traditional Cajun seasoning.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons ground paprika

4 teaspoons dried leaf thyme

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, or to your taste (if you can't find cayenne pepper then grind up and substitute red pepper flakes)

1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Simple Directions:

Place all ingredients in a jar and store in a cool dark place. Shake jar well before each use.

Recipe #2

This recipe is the traditional authentic early version of Cajun seasoning - before more exotic spices from other cuisines were added, like the Mexican cumin or nutmeg.

I use this one and add spices like turmeric and/or mild curry powder (Sharwood's brand is awesome) and New Mexico Chipotle Morita chile powder (available from dagiftbasket.com) and ground fresh coriander and some dried basil, sometimes some white pepper too. Hmmm... maybe I should start selling the Dennys Cajun Spice Blend! :)

Ingredients:

1 heaping tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons salt

1 heaping teaspoon garlic powder

1 heaping teaspoon onion powder

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons black pepper

1/2 teaspoon leaf thyme

1/2 teaspoon leaf oregano

Directions:

Mix the ingredients well and funnel into a shaker. Seal well and store in a cool dry place.


Blackened Catfish Recipe

Serves: 6

Cook outdoors: 1/2 pound(2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted.

Seasoning Mix Ingredients:

3/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teasponn thyme

1 Tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon oregano

2 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red pepper (cayenne)

Directions:

Now you can cook this outdoors as it can flame up and get really hot. How I get around that is to either use clarified butter, getting rid of and skimming off the milk fat makes it so the butter can stand to be used at a higher heat. It also has the added benefit of ridding you of artery-clogging cholesterol! (Yay!)

If you don't want to use butter or are concerned about flame-up in the house or outside, try using any oil that can withstand high heat like peanut oil, a favorite with chefs for deep fat frying.

Preheat well-seasoned cast iron skillet on outdoor-cooker or inside on gas burner at least 10 minutes, until a white ash forms in skillet bottom. Thoroughly combine seasoning mix in a small bowl. Dip fillets in melted butter so that both sides are well coated. Then sprinkle seasoning mix generously and evenly on both sides of fillets, putting it in the frying skillet by hand. (What I do is mix the seasonings while the skillet is heating, dip the fillets in oil and sit them on a plate ready to go. That way you keep your focus on that unusually high heat you are using so there are no accidents.)

Place in hot skillet and add 1 tablespoon of butter/oil over the top of fillets. (Caution - if using unclarified butter it will flame.) Cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side until charred. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. (We like fresh lime juice in our house!)

Good eating!