....is Orange Chicken Amazingness

From the Noshery.

Chicken
1 ½ lbs Chicken Breasts, cut into 1½” cubes
1 ½ Cups Corn Starch
1 ½ cup panko bread crumbs
3 Eggs, Beaten
¼ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Pepper
Oil (for frying), approximately 2" in the bottom of a sauce pan

Candy Thermometer (for oil temperature)

Orange Sauce
1 ½ Cups Water
1/4 Cup Orange Juice
1/3 Cup Rice Vinegar
2 ½ Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Orange Zest, Grated
1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
½ tsp Ginger Root, Minced

½ tsp Garlic, Minced
2 Tbsp Green Onion, Chopped
½ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
3 Tbsp Cornstarch
1/4 Cup Water

Combine corn starch, salt, and pepper. Prepare a bowl with beaten eggs, another with panko bread crumbs and another with corn starch. Dip chicken in egg mixture, dredge in cornstarch, then again in the eggs and finally in the panko bread crumbs, set aside. 

 Heat pan with vegetable oil to 375 degrees, fry chicken in batches until completely cooked. Each time you do a batch the oil cools down, give it some time to heat back up between batches.

In a large saucepan combine 1 ½ cups water, orange juice, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil.

Combine 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and mix thoroughly. Slowly stir cornstarch mixture into sauce until it thickens. Pour sauce over breaded chicken, and if desired garnish with green onions.

....is .625 Architect!

Yesterday I found out I passed my fifth and arguably the hardest of my exams. That's right this girl is 5/8th architect!!! I'm still waiting on one more result and will most likely take the final national test this month. From there I have to wait to complete my work experience hours before the State of California will 'invite' me to take the eighth and final test. I can hardly wait!

....is Back to Basics, Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a family recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I made it with such frequency in college I actually gave it up for lent one year. Not because I would eat it by the handful alone, I had 5 roommates and a few friends willing to help me out. The amount of butter and sugar I was going thru simply astonished me, so I took a break. I may have saved a few waistlines, including my own.

I also noticed the recipe rarely made it to cookie form. Only once that I recall, a group of boys specifically requested it in cookie form. I kept most of the ingredients on hand but when requested I usually required the missing ingredients be brought to me. That same group would show up at the door with a bag of chocolate chips or a stick of butter or one time I'm pretty sure they asked one of my neighbors to 'borrow' two eggs.

Most of the time it was eaten as dough (and to my knowledge, no one ever got sick from it). Maybe 30% of the time we would make Pizzookie with it, this lovely treat is in a few restaurants now. Basically you spread all the dough onto a cookie sheet or pizza pan (pizza + cookie = pizzookie) and par-bake it. Just past the 'jiggly' stage, it's a technical term.

This past year i decided to try my hand at the classic chocolate chip cookie, you think it wold be easy but there are thousands of chocolate chip cookies out there. Some have yogurt or pudding mix but I wanted plain, old, normal chocolate chip cookies. This is my favorite, they are gooey and hold together, most recipes have an inherent crumbling problem. The only alteration I made to the link below was a full teaspoon of vanilla, if you double the batch I would recommend only a teaspoon and a half.

1/4 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/4 Cups Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and egg. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl; stir into the sugar mixture in 3-4 parts. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets or use a cookie scoop, one of my favorite kitchen gadgets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Remove from baking sheet to cool on wire racks.

(Thanks, Anna.)

Happy New Year, Hello 2013.

....is a Little Christmas.

Christmas this year was first in a new apartment and first in town in a long time. We decorated small but I LOVED every little bit.

....is Snowflake Sugar Cookies

The Cookies:
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla

3 Cups Flour
2 Tbsp Baking Powder


Cream Sugar and Butter, mix in Egg and Vanilla. Add Flour mixed with Baking Powder in 3-4 batches. Keep the dough in the fridge and roll it out in small batches. It gets sticky if you let it warm up.

1 Snowflake Cookie Cutter
Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes.

4 Cups Powder Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
5 Tbsp Heavy Cream
2 tsp Vanilla*

*don't add if you want pure white frosting, I wasn't thinking and my snowflake frosting came out a little brownish...

...is Pop's Birthday Cake, German Chocolate Cake

The Cake:
1pkg. (4 oz.) BAKER'S GERMAN'S Sweet Chocolate
1/2 cup water
4 eggs, separated
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

HEAT oven to 350°F.

COVER bottoms of 3 (9-inch) round pans with waxed paper; spray sides with cooking spray. Microwave chocolate and water in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is almost melted, stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

BEAT egg whites in small bowl with mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form; set aside. Mix flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each. Blend in melted chocolate and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating until well blended after each addition.

ADD egg whites; stir gently until well blended. Pour into prepared pans.

BAKE 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Immediately run small spatula around cakes in pans. Cool cakes in pans 15 min.; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Spread Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting between cake layers and onto top of cake.

The Frosting:
4 egg yolks
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 pkg. (7 oz.) BAKER'S ANGEL FLAKE Coconut (2-2/3 cups)
1-1/2 cups Slivered Almonds

BEAT egg yolks, milk and vanilla in large saucepan with whisk until well blended. Add sugar and butter; cook on medium heat 12 min. or until thickened and golden brown, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

ADD coconut and nuts; mix well. Cool to desired spreading consistency.

....is .325 Architect?

Can you be 32.5% architect? If there is such a thing, I'm one of them.

Tests Passed: 3!
Tests Remaining: 5....