Ukrainian Chicken Paprikash

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Not Crocker

Being one quarter Ukrainian, every once in awhile I get the urge to “get back to my roots” and cook up some delicious Ukrainian fare. As a non-mommy, it was a lot easier to commit the time needed to create the mouth-watering perogies and cabbage rolls commonly associated with Ukrainian cooking, so I had to search out a few new, fast, and easy recipes to satisfy my cravings. This Chicken Paprikash has nearly no prep, so it was the perfect dinner in a flash. Use the sour cream as suggested for a creamier flavor or leave it out altogether if you prefer to experience the full paprika spice experience.

Ukrainian Chicken Paprikash

Ingredients

3 large onions sliced into half circles
3 cloves of garlic (or more if you like!)
3 chicken breast halves
1/4 cup butter
2 tbsp Paprika
1/2 cup rose wine
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper as you choose

Directions

So easy!

Melt the butter, add the onions and sauté until the onion are tender and transparent.
Sprinkle in the delicious paprika, yummy garlic, stir to coat and sauté one minute more.
Toss in some salt and pepper and your wine. Stir and move the onion mixture to one side of the pan.
Grab those chickens and give them a few rounds with the meat mallet and toss them into the empty side of the pan. Cover the chicken with your colourful onion mixture and cook for 10 minutes. Flip and repeat.
When the chicken has cooked for about twenty minutes, remove the onions, add the sour cream and serve with pasta, rice or for a delicious texture twist, try it a top a hot mound of gnocchi. Delish!

Serve with beets for an especially authentic Ukrainian feast.

Gorgeous onions.

Full of colour!

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Not Crocker

This is Kel’s first recipe. I was going to wait until she had a chance to post her commentary on these muffins, but she is a busy lady, and these are the perfect post for a Sunday morning, so here we go! I have had versions of these muffins, and I can assure you that they are delicious, the peanut butter and banana are doing their own delicious thing and then in jumps the chocolate, and well, as you can imagine, it is like a tasty tango. Kel might jump in here at a later point to add her commentary, but I will say that these are yummy.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed, golden brown sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 large, ripe bananas, mashed-enough for 1-1/4 cups banana
1 cup milk
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In large bowl, whisk together flour, both sugars, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
In separate bowl, combine mashed bananas, milk, peanut butter oil, vanilla, and eggs. Pour over dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips and stir until just combined.
Spoon into greased or paper-lined muffin tin, filling each three-quarters full. Bake until tops are firm to the touch, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes; transfer to rack and let cool.

Walnut Pie Bars (a play on Pecan Pie Bars)

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Not Crocker

I am not being clever, I just happened to have a Costco-sized bag of walnuts and no place to go… and then I got invited to a dinner party and suddenly walnuts became the perfect dessert. I LOVE pecan pie, I went through a pie phase a couple years ago and I swear I made pecan pie four times in so many months, which is way too often for such a rich dessert. Now, I haven’t had the pie since but I remembered making pecan pie squares once and thought these would be the perfect substitute. Again, I used walnuts instead of pecans, so there is a bit of a difference, but not so much to make a fuss about. The bottom of the bars are a bit cakey (ie not shortbread) and the top is rich, nutty, gooey deliciousness.

Walnut Pie Bars

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tbsp milk

2/3 cup flour mixture
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp cream (or milk)
2 cups roughly chopped walnuts

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 inch cake pan with parchment paper (curses, I ran out of parchment paper today, greasing it works too).
Whisk together the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Scoop out 2/3 cup and set aside.
Add butter and egg to the remaining flour mixture, and combine until crumbly. Press evenly (if possible…) into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown.
Baked and ready to be topped!
While the base is baking, beat together the 2/3 cup of the flour mixture, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and beaten eggs. Pour over the base when it is done baking. Sprinkle the walnuts evenly (if possible…) over the top. Bake 30-35 minutes, until filling is set.

Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Not Crocker

These cookies captured my imagination a couple days ago, so much so that I made them quickly! Brown butter anything is my favourite, as readers will know, and these sweet little cookies are no exception. Mine were not nearly as thin and sugar-cookie like as the ones that Let’s Dish made, but they were still delicious. I’ve mostly kept the recipe the same, because I like to try something once before jazzing it up Stacey-style (mostly by adding chocolate in some way). I’ve adjusted the ingredients to how I like to see them, and omitted the instructions for browning the butter, because you can find that here! Enjoy, and thanks to Let’s Dish again for this wonderful recipe!

Brown Butter Sugar Cookies

Recipe is from this lovely blog.

Ingredients

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsps butter (plus 1/4 cup butter to not be browned)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (for rolling)
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar (plus 1/4 cup for rolling)
2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions

Brown 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsps of butter, if you aren’t sure how, visit my unnecessary walkthrough. Pour the browned butter into a large bowl and stir the remaining 1/4 cup of butter until melted; set aside for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper, or coat them with cooking spray. In a shallow baking dish or pie plate, mix the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar; set aside.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in a medium bowl; set aside.
Add the remaining 1 3/4 cups brown sugar along with the salt to the cooled butter and mix well. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined, about 1 minute. Give the dough a final stir with a rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Form the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls (just larger than a twoonie) and roll them in the sugar mixture to coat. Place them on the prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
They sparkle.
Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but the centers are still soft, 8-10 minutes. Cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheets and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Don’t forget the cookies in the oven because you are drooling over the first batch… still tasty, but tougher for sure.