Triple-Decker Mint Brownies

I have two other recipes for mint brownies on this blog, but this one was different enough that I wanted to try it. I actually made this back in February for St. Patrick's Day, lol. I just haven't gotten around to posting them. 

Triple-Decker Mint Brownies  

adapted from The Kitchn

BROWNIES:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

FOR THE BUTTERCREAM:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 teaspoons peppermint extract

green food coloring, optional

Pinch kosher salt
2 cups powdered sugar

FOR THE GANACHE:

6 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream

MAKE THE BROWNIES:
1.  Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F. Line an 8x8-inch baking pan with parchment paper so that it hangs over two sides of the pan. Lightly grease the pan and parchment with cooking spray or butter.

2.  Melt the butter and chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder, sugar, and vanilla until no lumps remain. Let sit for 5 minutes so the cocoa powder can bloom. Whisk the eggs in one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour and salt and fold in with a rubber spatula.

3.  Transfer to the prepared baking pan and spread in an even layer. Bake until set, 23 to 25 minutes. Cool completely in the pan.

MAKE THE BUTTERCREAM:
4.  Place the butter and cream cheese in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (Alternatively, use an electric hand mixer and large bowl.) Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Beat in the peppermint extract, green food coloring, and salt.

5.  With the mixer on low speed, gradually add in the sugar. Once incorporated, increase the speed to medium-low and mix until smooth and fluffy. Spread in an even layer over the brownies. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the ganache.

MAKE THE GANACHE:
6.  Place the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over low heat until bubbling round the edges, then pour it over the chocolate mixture. Let sit for about 10 minutes, then stir with a spatula until completely smooth. Let it cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes, then use it as soon as it starts to thicken up.

7.  Remove the brownies from the refrigerator and spread the ganache in an even layer over the buttercream with an offset spatula or knife. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Lucky Charms Marshmallow Bars

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Celebrate with these sugar-laden bars.  These looked too fun to resist, so I didn't.  :) I love regular Rice Krispie treats and have never really made variations before.  This was a fun recipe.

Lucky Charms Marshmallow Bars
adapted from The Kitchn

Cooking spray
6 cups marshmallow cereal, such as Lucky Charms
6 tablespoons (3/4 cup stick) butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 (10-ounce) package mini marshmallows (about 4 cups), divided
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (optional)

1.  Coat an 8x8-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

2.  Pick out about 1 cup of marshmallow pieces from the cereal and set aside for topping the bars. (1 cup was a lot and totally covered the surface- 2/3 cup probably would have been good.)

3.  Melt the butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Working quickly, add half of the marshmallows and stir until thoroughly melted. Add the remaining marshmallows and stir until melted. Stir in the vanilla and salt if using. Add the cereal and gently fold it in until completely coated with the melted marshmallow mixture.

4.  Transfer to the baking pan. Using a rubber spatula, lightly and gently press into an even layer. Sprinkle with the reserved marshmallow cereal. Let the treats stand at room temperature until set, about 1 hour. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com**

Mint Brownies II

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I've made similar mint brownies in the past, but wanted to try these, as the base used melted chocolate instead of just cocoa powder, and I thought they might be chewier.  There is also cream cheese in the filling, unlike the other ones. And a bit less butter in this recipe.  I love the old recipe, though!  These are really good, too.

Mint Brownies 
adapted from Cooking Classy

Brownie:
6 oz bittersweet chocolate chips - 50 or 60% cocoa (or chopped bittersweet chocolate)*
1/2 cup unsalted butter, diced into tablespoons, plus more for baking dish
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Mint Cream Filling:
1/2 cup salted butter, softened slightly
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 tsp mint extract
5 drops green food coloring, or more/less as desired (optional)
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Chocolate Topping:
9 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 Tbsp salted butter, diced into tablespoons

1.  For the brownie: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13 by 9-inch baking dish with 2 sheets of aluminum foil (one going each direction) and leaving a two-inch overhang on all sides. Brush foil with melted butter (about 1/2 - 3/4 Tbsp), set aside. (I always skip the foil and just grease the pan.)

2.  Add bittersweet chocolate chips and butter to a microwave safe bowl. Heat mixture on HIGH power in 15 second intervals, stirring well after each interval until melted and smooth. (Or just melt this in a large saucepan on the stove, remove from heat, and continue the recipe in the same pan.) Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl and using a rubber spatula (for entire mixing process), mix in granulated sugar and salt. Blend in eggs one a time, mixing just until combined after each addition and adding in vanilla with last egg. Sprinkle cocoa powder into an even layer over batter and fold in just until combined. Add half of the flour and fold several times then add remaining flour and fold just until combined (batter will be thick). Pour and spread mixture into an even layer in prepared baking dish. Bake in preheated oven 20 - 23 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely on a wire rack.

3.  Mint Cream Filling: In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Blend in mint extract and green food coloring if desired, then with mixer set on low speed slowly add in powdered sugar, and mix until smooth and fluffy. Spread mixture over cooled brownies into an even layer. Transfer to refrigerator and chill 30 minutes.

4.  For the Chocolate Topping: To a microwave safe bowl, add semi-sweet chocolate chips and butter and heat mixture on HIGH power in 15 second intervals, stirring well after each interval until melted and smooth. Let cool a few minutes.  (Or just melt in a small saucepan on the stove.)  Remove brownies from refrigerator and spread chocolate topping into an even layer over brownies. Return to refrigerator and chill 30 minutes longer, or until chocolate has set. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container.  

*I used almost 2 whole 50% cocao Ritter Sport bars, chopped.  Measured 6 oz. on the scale.

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St. Patrick's Day- Chocolate Mint Sandwich Cookies

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This year, I tried this Chocolate Mint Sandwich cookie recipe (the filling is light green, if you can't tell.)  These cookies are very tasty- the cookie is soft and chewy, and the filling is minty and contains marshmallow creme- which I love, and that adds a delicious smooth texture.  I had a little trouble with the dough spreading and making the cookies so large and thin they were falling apart.  So instead of slicing dough logs into slices and baking, like the recipe suggested, I just used my smallest cookie scoop to scoop dough balls, which I then baked.  This worked much better for me.  The dough had also been chilled- I think this is very necessary with this recipe.  After I did that, this recipe worked out very well. I'll include my changes below.

Tonight I'm making green mac and cheese for dinner, but not all healthy-like with spinach and other veggies in it, because the kids wouldn't eat it that way.  I'll be using the dreaded food coloring!  They'll eat broccoli on the side though, so we're also having that with some baked salmon.

Chocolate Mint Sandwich Cookies

adapted from the Daring Gourmet

makes 25-30 sandwich cookies

2½ sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature (if using salted, reduce salt below)
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Marshmallow Mint Filling:
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, at room temperature
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme
2 cups powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
1 teaspoon mint extract
A few drops of green food coloring

1.  In a large bowl (or bowl of stand mixer), add the butter and sugar and cream together.  Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the creamed mixture and mix until combined. In a medium bowl, mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients and continue mixing until incorporated.  Cover the dough, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours. 

2.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Using a small cookie scoop (1 tablespoon), form dough into balls and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

3.  To make the filling, add the butter, marshmallow cream, and mint extract. Use an electric mixer (or stand mixer) to beat until thoroughly combined and add green food coloring according to your desired shade of green. Spread about a tablespoon of the filling on the bottom side of one of the cookies and then place the other cookie on top. Repeat for all of the cookies.  

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **

Lucky Mint Cheesecake

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  We just got back from a wonderful marriage retreat, but I made this before we left so we could come home to it and celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  :)  This is a recipe I made a handful of times when we were first married because it was so easy, yet so good.  Back then I made it even easier by using a purchased Oreo crust, but I can't get one here, so I just made one using 20 crushed Oreos and 1/4 cup melted butter.  I took it from this recipe. 

(There are 3 pies on the blog recently, lol; I usually never make pies!  But there was Pi day and now this Pie-cheesecake thing for St. Patrick's.)  The whole family loved this, even all of my picky ones.  Although one of them said "This tastes like toothpaste!" upon first bite, he did continue to eat it, so maybe he likes that.  (Just FYI- it does not really taste like toothpaste!) 

There is the Oreo crust layer, then a fudge chocolate layer, and finally the mint cheesecake layer.  The flavors are so good together and perfect for St. Patrick's Day!  For dinner we had Broccoli-Cheese Soup with green Kiwi Smoothies. 

Lucky Mint Cheesecake
adapted from Eagle Brand

1/2 cup (3 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 prepared Oreo crumb pie crust (store bought or homemade, below)

1 (8 oz.) plus 1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened (11 oz. total)

1/2 teaspoon mint extract 

Several drops green food coloring

1 large egg

Crust:
20 Oreos
4 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Crush the Oreos until they’re fine crumbs (food processor is good). Pour melted butter over the top and stir with a fork to combine. Press into pie pan and bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes, or until set. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Cheesecake: 
1.  Heat oven to 350°F.  Melt chocolate chips with 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk in small saucepan.  Stir in vanilla.  Spread on bottom of pie crust.

2.  In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy.  Gradually beat in remaining sweetened condensed milk, mint extract and green food coloring.  Add egg; beat on low speed just until combined.  Place pie crust on baking sheet; place on oven rack.  Carefully pour mint mixture over chocolate layer in pie crust.

3.  Bake 20-25 minutes or until center is nearly set.  Cool.  Chill at least 3 hours or overnight.

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Chocolate Ice Cream with Mint Oreos

This could be your St. Patrick's Day Dessert!  :)  This is just a super easy chocolate ice cream base with chopped Mint Oreos stirred in.  There is no eggs or cooking involved in the chocolate ice cream; just whisking ingredients together.  Actually, the cocoa powder would not incoroporate, so I got out my immersion blender and used that- perfect.  This chocolate ice cream recipe is from my friend over at Buen Provecho. 

I would definitely make this again, but cut the cocoa powder down to 1/2 cup; 3/4 cup was just too rich and chocolatey for me.  (I don't even like any storebought chocolate ice cream.) 

PS:  Tomorrow is Pi Day; how will you celebrate?  ;)

Chocolate Ice Cream with Mint Oreos

adapted from Buen Provecho

3/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted (use only 1/2 cup for lighter choc. flavor)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

pinch of salt

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

15-20 Mint Oreos, coarsley chopped

1.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugars and salt.  Add the milk and, using a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk, beat to combine until the cocoa, sugars and salt are dissolved.  If not mixing well, use an immersion blender.  Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. 

2.  Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.  Remove from the machine into a freezer-safe container and fold in chopped Oreos as you do so.  Place in the freezer for a few hours.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day (tomorrow)!  I made these little cuppy-cakes to celebrate.  They're filled with a kind of mint ganache (it has powdered sugar though.... is that still ganache?) and topped with minty cream cheese frosting.  I cut the recipe in half, including the frosting.  I made the full amount of filling, though.  Anyway, this recipe makes a TON of frosting.  I had so much leftover.  It made twice as much as I needed.  That's ok, because I took a package of Maria Cookies and made sandwich cookies out of them, being verrrrrry generous with the frosting.  Then I added some ganache to them, too.  I tried to drizzle extra ganache over top of the frosted cupcake, but I couldn't get it to look good, so I just stopped.

The cupcake recipe is the one on the back of the Hershey's Cocoa box.  You can probably just use your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe.

Chocolate Andes Mint Cupcakes
adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe
half-recipe.... makes 12-15 cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons HERSHEY’S Cocoa
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water

Chocolate Mint Filling:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Mint Buttercream:
1/2 cup (1 stick; 8 tablespoons) butter, softened to room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoons peppermint extract
Green food coloring
12-15 Andes mints for garnish

1.  For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin cups with paper baking cups. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; using a handheld electric mixer or an electric stand mixer, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water. The batter will be very thin. Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full and bake for 12-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Remove cupcakes from muffin tin and let cool completely on a wire rack.

2.  For the mint filling, while the cupcakes are baking, place the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a double boiler (I make my own w/a pan and heat-proof bowl) over barely simmering water. Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Stir in the peppermint extract and powdered sugar, whisking until smooth. Let the mixture cool to room temperature (but don’t let it get too stiff) and pour it into a squeeze bottle or a piping bag (it helps to place the bag, point down, in a tall glass while filling).  When the cupcakes are cool, insert the tip of the squeeze bottle into the center of the cupcake and press gently to fill the middle of the cupcake with the mint ganache.

3.  For the frosting, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add the heavy cream and peppermint and vanilla extracts. Beat until light and fluffy. Add green food coloring until the color you like is achieved.
Frost the cooled, filled cupcakes with frosting (using a piping bag & large star tip, like Wilton 1M) or simply spread the frosting in a large dollop with a butter knife or flat spatula. Garnish with an unwrapped Andes mint and a drizzle of leftover ganache, if desired.  Refrigerate until serving.

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St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!  It's always fun to think of what green dessert I'll make on this holiday.  (This just has one layer of green, but still.)  These brownies are so good- a chewy brownie layer, topped by mint frosting, and covered with a melted mint chocolate mixture.  I did not realize how much butter this recipe entailed until after I started making it- holy butter!!  I almost didn't have enough butter in the house to make these- I only have one tablespoon left in the whole house now!!  Lol! 

This is my Mom's recipe.  She calls them BYU brownies, after the brownies her university had for sale in their food area (cafeteria?  I don't know what to call it).  I'm just going to call them Mint Brownies, myself, since I did not go to the same university.  :) 

These are not hard to make, but time-consuming, as you must make each layer and then wait for each layer to cool before adding the next.  I started these around 10am and was finished at about 2pm (doing lots of other stuff in-between, of course!).  One could make the brownie layer the night before to make prep faster.

Mint Brownies
from my Mom

Brownies:
1 cup butter
2 cup white sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease a 9x13 pan.  In a large saucepan, melt butter.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Beat in the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder (a whisk works well for this).  Spread batter into prepared pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 22-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out almost clean.  Do not overbake.  Cool completely.

Filling:
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 Tablespoon milk or water
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
1//2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 drops green food coloring (or use gel food coloring; just a dab)

Combine filling ingredients in a medium mixing bowl; beat until creamy.  Spread over cooled brownies.  Refrigerate until set. 

Topping:
1 (10 oz.) package mint chocolate chips (or 10 oz. mini semi-sweet choc chips and a few drops mint extract)
1/2 cup butter

Melt chocolate chips and butter over very low heat in a small saucepan until smooth (mine never got completely smooth- but it was still fine and looked good on the brownies).  Let cool for 30 minutes or until lukewarm, stirring occasionaly.  Spread over filling.  Chill before cutting.  Store in refrigerator. 

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Mint Ice Cream Dessert

I saw this recipe a few weeks ago on Taste of Home's website and knew I would like to make it for St. Patrick's day.  The original recipe makes 2, 9x13 pans of the dessert, which is probably good for a family reunion or something, but way too much for us.  I cut the recipe in half and we'll still have a ton leftover, but I figure it will keep well in the freezer. 

When I was making the chocolate sauce, it looked really funky and almost un-appetizing at first, but I just kept simmering it away, and it turned out very well, and is totally delish.  I chose to protect my reputation and use real whipped cream instead of CoolWhip for this recipe.  (ha ha).  The only whipping cream I had on hand was a few boxes of this wierd European (but good) shelf-stable cream I buy here.  One box is about 2/3 cup.  I whipped that up first, and it wasn't enough to cover the dish, so I whipped another box.  I figure a good amount to use would be 1 1/2 cups whipping cream- whipped. 

The recipe also called for a 14-oz package of chocolate sandwich cookies.  A package or Oreos is over 1 pound, but I just measured out 14 oz. using my kitchen scale.  Next time, I would just throw in the whole pacakge, to make the crust thicker, and not to have a few lonely Oreos hanging around the cupboards.  I just used a regular package of mint chocolate chip ice cream- 1.5 quarts, I think.  This would be good with homemade ice cream!! 

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

Mint Ice Cream Dessert

adapted from Taste of Home

1 packages (14 ounces or larger) cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk + one ounce regular milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1.5 quarts mint chocolate chip ice cream, softened
1-1/2 cups whipping cream, whipped with 4 tablespoons sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
shaved chocolate, optional

1.  In a large bowl, combine the cookie crumbs and butter (I crushed the Oreos in my food processor first, and then added the melted butter and pulsed it all together). Press into a 13-in. x 9-in. dish. Freeze for 15-30 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the milk, sugar, butter and chocolate. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat; cool completely.

3.  Spread ice cream over the crust. Spoon cooled chocolate sauce over top; evenly spread to cover. Freeze until firm. Spread with whipped cream. Dessert may be frozen for up to 2 months. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before cutting. Garnish with shaved chocolate. Yield: 15-18 servings.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

My son recieves a cute magazine subscription from one set of Grandparents- National Geographic Little Kid's Magazine.  He absolutely LOVES it, and every issue has great animal pictures, stories, games, science experiments, and a recipe!  This issue's recipe was for a "Shamrock Smoothie", using green ingredients to make a yummy green smoothie.  Our smoothie would have been even greener, had we had some fresh baby spinach like the recipe called for.  We made it as stated, just leaving our the spinach.  (Fresh spinach is almost impossible for me to find here- there are many other greens, but not tender baby spinach).  The kids LOVED it as an after-school snack today.  They also loved helping me to make it.

This is just the first of many green foods we will eat today- for dinner we will have this Artichoke Pesto Pasta, with our fave Lemon-Garlic broccoli, and I have a green dessert lined up too.  :)  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Shamrock Smoothie
from National Geographic

1 peeled banana, sliced and frozen
1 cup frozen green grapes
1 peeled kiwi
1 cup washed baby spinach, optional
8 oz. lime yogurt (we used kiwi yogurt)
1/4 cup limeade

Put the frozen ingredients and kiwi and spinach into the bledner.  Add the yogurt and limeade.  Blend until smooth.  Pour the smoothie into glasses and serve immediately.  Makes 3 child-sized servings.

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Having young children is so fun during holidays. They get so excited about everything and make it all fun. Today for dinner, we had leftover salmon chowder, and to be green for St. Pattys, I made some homemade pesto and slathered that on a long, skinny sun-dried tomato baguette, and baked that for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Those pictures turned out terrible, so I won't be sharing them, but it was really yummy! At some later date I'll try to post that "recipe" with pictures.

I did make some yummy shamrock cookies from Taste of Home. I added a little more almond extract to the cookies, and cut down on the milk a little in the icing. Then I used a freezer ziplock bag with the corner snipped to pipe designs on the cookies.

Note: I would use parchment paper-lined baking sheets. I broke quite a few cookies because they stuck so badly, and I even started greasing my cookie sheets.

Pot o' Gold Cookies from Taste of Home

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds, toasted
Dash salt

ICING:
2 cups powdered Sugar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons milk
Green food coloring

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and extracts. Combine the flour, almonds and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Shape into a 10-in. roll; wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. Unwrap and cut into 1/4-in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 14-16 minutes or until set. Remove to wire racks to cool. Combine the icing ingredients; decorate cookies as desired. Let stand until set. Store in an airtight container. Yield: about 3-1/2 dozen.

St. Patrick's Day

Despite bouts of illness plaguing our family yesterday, we still had a good St. Patrick's Day. The whole family dressed in green and we had a great green dinner! I made Pesto Salmon, Pesto Mashed Potatoes, and steamed asparagus. I started by making my own pesto. I got 2 4 oz. boxes of fresh organic basil on sale for $.99 each. So I made two batches of pesto. I've made it so much that I just did it without a recipe this time. Here is what I did yesterday.

Basil Pesto

4 oz. fresh basil, rinsed
2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
1/2 cup (or less) extra-virgen olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
splash or two of lemon juice
1/2 cup shredded or grated parmesan or romano cheese
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Place the basil in your food process with a metal blade. Pulse for a few seconds to break down the leaves a little. Add the garlic and pine nuts. With the food processor running, stream the olive oil into it through the open push chute. Add lemon juice, cheese, salt and pepper and pulse again until blended to your preference.
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My 5-year old daughter loves helping me make pesto, and she loves eating it too. She saw me put the parmesan cheese in and she said "That's your secret ingredient! That's why I love pesto so much!" Silly girl. (She does love parmesan though. She'll eat it out of a bowl, with a spoon, if allowed.) She was my sampler and let me know if there was enough salt in the pesto.

I'm not a big fan of cabbage, corned beef and other typical St. Patrick's day food. That's why we went with a non-traditional, but green, St. Patrick's day meal. Yes, there is a lot of pesto in this meal, but it's yummy and green, to boot! The potatoes were kind of an olive green color, but still tasty. Pesto Salmon was yummy and easy. My fave type of salmon is Wild Alaskan Sockeye. I always go for the wild!

Pesto Salmon

basil pesto, 1/4 to 1/2 cup
1.5 lb fresh salmon fillet

Preheat oven to 400*. Spray a 9x13 pan with olive oil. Place salmon in pan, and spread with an even layer of pesto. Lay it on as thin or thick as you like. Cover the pan with foil. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes more, until the salmon is done. (Opaque and flakes easily with a fork.) Be careful not to overcook.

Pesto Mashed Potatoes

3-5 medium to large red potatoes, cubed
1/4 cup milk, or as needed
2 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 cup basil pesto
salt and pepper to taste
Place potatoes in a saucepan filled with water and bring to a boil. Boil until tender, 10-15 minutes. Drain and mash (I use electic beaters) with milk, butter, and pesto. Mix in salt and pepper.
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Asparagus was on sale for $1.49/lb, and you can bet that I picked some up! I just steamed it, since I was feeling too tired to do anything fancy (although I did think about it). To drink, we had a Lemonade Knudsen sprtizer. I added a drop of blue food coloring to each glass to turn it green. (Ya know.... blue + yellow = green?) It was actually very pretty. I don't usually like to use food coloring, but will make exceptions for such important holidays as St. Patty's.
For dessert, I made a Texas Sheet Cake and cut out servings with a shamrock cookie cutter. I used this recipe, but left out the nuts and used one cup of whole wheat pastry flour. Then I made some green buttercream frosting and piped a shamrock outline on each little cake. I have about 20 little shamrock cakes and a whole pan full of Texas Sheet Cake scraps. :) I hope everyone enjoyed St. Patty's Day!