One Cake to Rule Them All...

For my son's thirteenth birthday tomorrow, I made a Hobbit Hole cake.  Cake is from a mix, baked in Pampered Chef batter bowl.  I cut a small chunk from one side to make the door, the leftover made the little hill under the right hand tree.  Fortunately, it's the right season for Christmas tree peeps.  Path is yogurt-covered raisins, windows are chocolate coated raspberry rings.

Update:  Another year, another Hobbit birthday party.  This year I adapted this cake and added some chocolate gold coins to create Smaug in his lair. I think if I was doing it again I would use red gummis for the claws and eye ridges, but everyone enjoyed.

Cookie dough cream pie

I had a delicious chocolate chip cookie dough cream pie at a restaurant years ago and have been looking for a recipe since. I may have found it. Raw cookie dough inside a brown sugar pudding that tastes somewhat like cookie dough itself. Ignore your diet, folks.

Notes: This makes a deep dish pie! I doubled the recipe to make 2 pies for a church event. I used pre-made Oreo crusts for a shortcut. There was enough filling for 3.
Baking the egg-less cookie dough makes a pretty little garnish, but the cookies themselves were overly crisp and buttery for me. Next time I think I'll skip that step and use regular cookies or Famous Amos.

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (7 oz)
• 6 tablespoons butter

Press into pie pan, bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool completely.

Dough:

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick butter
• 3/8 cup brown sugar
• 3/8 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars, ass milk and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and mix into soft dough. Make 8 small balls (about 1/2 teaspoon) and bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes. Press rest of raw dough into pie crust.

Pudding:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, flour and salt, whisk in 1 cup milk. Heat to boiling on medium heat, whisking constantly. Continue for two minutes, until custard is thick. Remove from heat. In separate bowl, whisk remaining milk into egg yolks. Whisk a dollop of the hot custard into the egg/milk mixture, then whisk into warm custard. Heat to boiling again for one minute, whisking constantly. Remove from hear and whisk in butter and vanilla. Pour over cookie dough and chill several hours or overnight.

Cream:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat cream to soft peak stage, add rest of ingredients and beat to stiff peaks. Spread over pie. Reserve eight dollops to pipe around circumference; garnish with mini-cookie.

White bean chili

I made this recently for a church event... quite good. I tend not to like traditional chili so this was a nice change. I doubled the recipe for a full pot.

• 1 lb ground chicken or cubed chicken breast
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper
• 16 ounces mild salsa verde
• 2 cans white cannellini beans
• 14 oz chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves

Brown chicken in stew pot in 2 tsp oil. Remove, cook onion and garlic in oil 5-6 minutes, until tender. Mix together remaining spices, add and stir for 1 minute. Add salsa, beans, chicken and broth, heat to boiling. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Serve with cilantro, if desired.

Loaded baked potato soup

I have been trying to make at least one crock pot of soup a week this winter. This one was for my potato-philic daughter.

• 6 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoons pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Combine all ingredients except milk, cheese and bacon. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4. Mash potatoes to desired texture, stir in milk and cheese. Serve with topped with bacon, sour cream or more cheese, if desired. Or all three.