Happy V-Day

 

Hope you're spendin' it with the ones you love!

Not Really Tuesday: Fornell's Festive Homemade Oreos

I'm well aware that it is not Tuesday. I'm going to blame the fact that I missed Tuesday on the ridiculous amount of snow my state received, even though I really just didn't bake anything because I was too darned lazy.

I planned on baking yesterday to make up for it, but wasn't feeling very inspired by Tuesday night's episode of NCIS. I was left feeling very underwhelmed, despite my initial excitement about Fornell's return. Regardless, my favorite FBI agent deserves a tasty treat named after him, so here I am.

Fornell's Festive Homemade Oreos

Ingredients:

Cookies

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

Filling

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

Directions:

Cookies

1.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2.) In a mixing bowl, add flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt and sugar.

3.) While mixing on a low speed, add the butter and then the egg. Continue beating until the dough comes together in a mass.

4.) Drop by rounded teaspoons and flatten slightly with moist hands.

5.) Bake for 9 minutes.

Filling

1.) In a mixing bowl, add butter and shortening. 

2.) Mix in sugar and vanilla.

3.) Beat until light and fluffy.

Notes: The original recipe notes that for actual oreo like cookies, take out a full half a cup of sugar. I had a hard time with the batter, and I think that's because I didn't melt my butter like I usually do. In fact, when I make these again, I'm going to do just that and see if they come out any better. Also, for the filling, I added just a little bit of milk because it seemed so dry. Recipe was found here.

 

  

  

  

  

  

 

  

Because Valentine's Day is right around the corner, I added some red icing coloring to the cream to give it a pink tint. I know, festive, right? Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!

Edited to add: On a completely unrelated note, I've started an online petition in hopes to get Jimmy Palmer added to NCIS as a regular cast member! If you're interested, please sign by going here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/palmer-pals

New Recipe Tuesday: Palmer's Welcome Back Cake

For the three of you who read this blog, you know I'm Pro-Jimmy Palmer. So much, in fact, that I'm debating starting an online petition to the writers of NCIS to have him added to the opening credits because yes, Jimmy Palmer is that good. I was so excited to see him in tonight's episode, that I decided to name tonight's dessert after him.

I don't know anyone who doesn't like yellow cake and for nearly a month now, I've been looking for a good recipe. The one I used is one that I stole borrowed from a magazine in a doctor's office and I'm not sure if I really like it. I'm taking it into work tonight as one of the guinea pigs officers has a birthday tomorrow, so I guess we'll see.

Palmer's Welcome Back Cake

Ingredients:

Batter

3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder

3/4 teaspoons of salt

1 cup of butter, softened

1 3/4 cups of sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 cup of milk

Frosting

3/4 cups of milk chocolate morsels

1 box (1 lb) of confectioner's sugar

6 tablespoons of milk

1/4 cups of softened butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoons of salt

Directions:

Batter

1.) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.) Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

3.) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla.

4.) On a low speed, alternate between adding flour and milk, beginning and ending with the flour.

5.) Bake at 325 degrees for 40-43 minutes.

Frosting

1.) Melt chocolate in a medium saucepan on medium heat; allow to cool slightly.

2.) Mix milk, sugar, butter and vanilla until blended.

3.) Add in chocolate and beat until it becomes spreading consistency.

Notes: I don't know what it was about this recipe, but the batter just did not taste right. I don't know if it was because there was too much baking powder, or what. Also, I put the batter in my "Big Top Cupcake" mold, so I had to bake closer to an hour to get it done all the way through.

 

  

  

  

  

Like I said, I don't know exactly how this is going to taste, but regardless, just remember:

Palmer for President

Snapple Fact of the Day

Snapple Fact #852: Clearwater, Florida has the highest rate of lightning strikes per capita in the U.S.

I'm well already that I just did a Snapple Fact a couple of hours ago, but over here on the East Coast, it's already Monday. Ah, the joys of midnight shifts.

A Long Time Ago...

 ...in a galaxy not so far away, I tried to give up soda, and for awhile, it worked. I'm a huge caffeine addict, though unfortunately, I got tired of drinking the unsweetened tea from the gas station I had grown so fond of and decided to give another kind a try. My drink of choice?

I don't know if it was the actual drink that I liked, or if it was the fun facts that I found under the caps. For awhile, at work, we made it a big thing that before role call was over at the beginning of the shift, my guinea pigs officers had to hear what we dubbed the "Snapple Fact of the Day".

What does this random story have to do with this blog? Nothing really, except that last night, my KW (Hi KW) told me that she missed my random Snapple facts and thought that I should start drinking it again and posting the facts here. So now, I present to you the Snapple Fact of the Day:

Snapple Fact #861: South Carolina is home to the first tea farm in the U.S.

Disclaimer: I have no idea if any of these facts are actually true, as I thought I heard somewhere that Snapple sometimes makes them up. Regardless, they're fun to read and the drinks aren't too bad either.

Let Me Tell You About A Little Show...

SouthLAnd. Have you heard of it? I hadn't until NBC screwed up and it got moved to TNT.

I think my favorite thing about this show (and granted, I've only seen two episodes so far) is just how realistic it is. I'm not a cop, but I work with a lot of them and I just feel like I can connect with these characters in the same way I've connected with my guys.

Officer John Cooper, right now, is my favorite, I think. There's something about him that absolutely cracks me up. I love the way he's a no-nonsense kind of guy when it comes to his rookie, but he still manages to make his character likable!

I love the way they portray the different situations and I love the characters' reactions to different calls. As I've said, I've only watched two episodes so far, but if the rest of the episodes are anything like the first two, I can easily see myself getting addicted to this.

Also, I don't know if I have any actual readers of this blog or if I'm the only one who checks it out, but if you're reading this out there in Blog Land and you haven't given this show a chance, you should. Tuesdays on TNT at 2200 hours! 

You know, for somebody who doesn't like cop shows, I'm really liking a lot of cop shows!

New Recipe Tuesday: Tiva's Chocolate Kisses

First of all, I need to make something very clear: I am not on board with the whole "Tiva" thing. I'm not. And not because I don't think Tony and Ziva would be great together, because they would, but I like the whole UST thing they have going on and a relationship is going to ruin that, so Writers of NCIS hear me out: JUST SAY NO TO TIVA!

Now that that's out of the way...

In celebration of tonight's episode (which, by the way, has been pimped to the max as a "Tiva" episode), I thought a 'Tiva' themed recipe was just what this blog needed.

Tiva's Chocolate Kisses

Ingredients:

1 cup of margarine

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 1/2 cups of flour

3/4 cups of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

48 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Directions:

1.) In a large mixing bowl, add sugars, margarine, eggs and vanilla, mixing well.

2.) Add flour, cocoa and baking soda, mixing well.

3.) Refrigerate dough and the kisses for 30 minutes.

4.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5.) After removing the dough from the fridge, roll into 1 inch balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

6.) Bake for 7-10 minutes.

7.) Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, press a kiss into the center of the cookie.

Notes: Originally, this recipe was to be used with the Rolo candies. If you choose to use those candies, instead of pressing them on top, they are supposed to be used inside of the cookie. However, due to the fact that my stupid grocery store didn't have any, I went with the meltaway chocolate Hershey Kisses. At first, I wasn't sure that I would recommend using these kisses because true to their name, they did melt pretty easily, but putting them in the refrigerator really helped with that. This recipe makes about 48 cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're so pretty. I wish that I would be able to enjoy one during the episode, but unfortunately, my work apparently does not care that it's Tuesday so I'm going to miss tonight's episode. Luckily, I invested in a Tivo back when I started telling cops were to go, so I can watch at 0100, but it's so not the same. *sigh*