CPK BBQ Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:
1 whole Recipe For Pizza Crust (recipe below makes 2 crusts)
2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
½ cups Barbecue Sauce
Olive Oil, For Drizzling
Salt For Sprinkling
16 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Sliced Thinly
½ whole Red Onion, Cut In Half And Sliced Very Thin
Chopped Cilantro, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Salt chicken breasts on both sides, then place in an ovenproof dish. Pour BBQ sauce over the breasts and turn them over to coat. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until chicken is done. Remove from oven and cut into a fine dice. Set aside.
Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees.
Roll/stretch out one pizza crust. Lay it on a sheet pan drizzled with olive oil. Drizzle a little olive oil on the crust, then sprinkle on a little salt.
Spoon a couple of tablespoons of extra BBQ sauce on the crust and spread it evenly. Top sauce with half the sliced mozzarella. Sprinkle on half the diced chicken and thinly sliced red onion.
Sprinkle again with a little salt, then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle on plenty of chopped cilantro. Cut into squares and serve immediately. Repeat with other crust and other ingredients, or save for another time.

Pizza Crust
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast
1-½ cup Warm Water
4 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
⅓ cups Olive Oil
Directions:
Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.
In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.
Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.
Note: it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.
When you are ready to make the pizza, grab HALF the pizza dough (recipe makes 2 crusts) and squeeze the dough toward the bottom to form a nice, tight, pulled ball. You can roll out the pizza with a rolling pin if you’d like, but sometimes it’s just as easy to throw it around and pull and stretch till it feels right. And when the crust is nice and thin, lay it on an oiled baking sheet or pizza pan. Drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and spread it with your fingers. Very lightly sprinkle some salt on the crust.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Top your crust with your toppings of choice. Then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.

Texas Sheet Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
2 cups Flour
2 cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
2 sticks Butter
1 cup Boiling Water
½ cups Buttermilk*
2 whole Beaten Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Vanilla
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Frosting:
½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
1 & ¾ stick Butter
4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
6 Tablespoons Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 ½ cups Powdered Sugar

Directions:
Use an 18×13 sheet cake pan/jelly roll pan.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake. The warmth of the cake should do most of the work for you, causing the frosting to spread on its own.

*to make Buttermilk substitute: pour just under 1/2 cup regular milk into the measuring cup, then add enough regular vinegar to the milk to bring the quantity up to 1/2 cup. Within seconds, it turns into buttermilk and works perfectly.

Daffodil Cake Pops

To make:
(see Bakerella's cupcake pops)

Mix 1 lemon cake mix as directed on the box plus, add the zest of 2 lemons to the mix, and the juice of 2 lemons as part of the water called for on the box. To make the pops, stir in the zest of another lemon and add a bit of Egg Yellow AmeriColor Food Coloring to the cream cheese icing.

Dip in orange candy melts & add tiny white sprinkles.

Print out the template from Martha Stewart's site....

http://images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/2011Q2/msl_0411_daffodil_candycups.pdf

trace onto yellow paper, cut out and with an Xacto knife cut an X in the middle, fold a mini cupcake liner in half and hole punch. Insert the pops into the liners/flowers.

cupcake liners can be purchased at http://layercakeshop.com/index.php/Shop/Baking/Mini-Electric-Orange-Baking-Cups.html

Lemon Snowball Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
confectioners’ sugar

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and egg until well blended. Add lemon juice, peel and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned (cookies will not brown on top).
Transfer immediately to wire racks and cool for 5 minutes, then roll in confectioners’ sugar.

Grilled Hawaiian Pork Chops

Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops (at least 2/3 inch thick)
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon cooking sherry
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:
Place the pork chops in a large ziploc bag. Whisk together the soy sauce, garlic, sherry, cayenne, lime juice and ground ginger and pour into the ziploc bag with the pork chops. Seal the bag and place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.
Preheat the grill to medium-high heat and cook the pork chops for about 3 minutes on each side until done. If using a meat thermometer, it should reach 170 degrees internally.
Serve with grilled fresh pineapple, if desired.

Blue Cheese and Walnut Quiche

Ingredients:
1 pie crust
3 large eggs
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
2 1/4 cups grated Swiss or Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
2 Tablespoons minced red onion
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Gently place pie crust into 9-inch round pie pan or quiche pan. Pinch the rim decoratively and prick crust with a fork. Bake the crust for 10 minutes. Pull out to cool while you prepare the filling.
2. In large bowl, whisk together eggs, flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Blend in the cream and then the milk.
3. In separate bowl, combine Swiss and blue cheeses and then sprinkle them into the prepared pastry shell. Sprinkle the red onion and walnuts over the cheese. Gently pour in egg mixture to fill the pastry shell.
4. Place the filled pan on a baking sheet and bake quiche for 35-40 minutes, or until custard is just set. Watch the edges of the crust and cover with foil or a pie-crust cover if it's browning too much. Let quiche rest 8-10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Swiss and Cheddar Quiche with Bacon

Ingredients:
1/2 (15 ounce) package refrigerated pie crust (or make your own)
8 slices bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (Applewood Smoked bacon is ideal)
4 whole green onions, chopped
4 ounces (1 cup) shredded Swiss cheese, divided
4 ounces (1 cup) sharp cheddar cheese, divided
6 large eggs
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Let piecrust come to room temperature (about 15 minutes) and roll out slightly to make the round a little bit larger. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate, fold edges under and crimp. Poke several holes in the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork. Bake for 7 minutes; remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
3. Cook bacon pieces in a large skillet until crisp. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle green onions, bacon, 1/2 cup of Swiss cheese, and 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese into the baked crust.
4. Whisk together eggs, whipping cream, salt, peppers and nutmeg. Pour into the crust; sprinkle with remaining Swiss and cheddar cheeses.
5. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes or until set. Let stand for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix

3/4 cup sugar, divided
4 tbsp water
4 tbsp + 4 tsp heavy whipping cream
2 egg white
spinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pecans, chopped
milk chocolate chips for melting and drizzling
course sea salt

Directions:
For the cupcakes:
Bake the cupcakes according to package directions and let them cool completely before frosting.

For Salted Caramel Buttercream:
Place 1/2 cup of sugar and water in saucepan over medium-high heat. Do not stir of you will get sugar crystals, only swirl the saucepan gently. It will bubble itself into a deep amber. Remove immediately from heat and add cream (careful – it will bubble up furiously).

Stir until smooth. Divide caramel into two separate and equal portions and set aside.Place the egg whites, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture reaches 140 degrees. Transfer to bowl of standing mixer. Beat on high until stiff peaks form.

Add butter a bit at a time, and continue beating on high. Reduce speed to low, add vanilla extract, and then one of your portions of caramel (you may need to gently rewarm the caramel in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time until it is workable but not burning hot). Beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until buttercream texture is reached.

Pipe buttercream frosting onto each cupcake then roll sides in chopped pecans. Drizzle top of cupcake with melted chocolate and then with second batch of caramel. Sprinkle ever so slightly with course sea salt.