Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb Macaroni (about 4 cups elbow macaroni)
• 2 (8 oz) Packages of Sharp Cheddar Cheese Chunk
• 2 cups Milk
• 1/2 cup Flour
• 1/4 cup Butter
• Salt & Pepper to Taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a Large Pot Boil Macaroni until tender.
2. Shred your Cheese and set aside.
3. In a small saucepan melt butter over medium heat.
4. Add flour and mix until brown amber color (Make a roux).
5. Add Milk and Whisk until thick.
6. Add Cheese one hand full at a time.
7. Mix until cheese is all melted and smooth.
8. Place cooked macaroni in baking pan.
9. Pour Cheese mixture over macaroni.
10. Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven
11. Salt & Pepper to taste.

The Best Chicken Enchiladas

I am taking two pans of these to a meeting tonight.  Easy, good and within our budget.  Perfect!!!

The Best Chicken Enchiladas

: Entree

: 10

: 5 mins

: 35 mins

: 40 mins

Simply the Best Enchiladas

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. Corn Starch
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 Clove of Minced Garlic
• ½ Teaspoon of Salt and Pepper
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 Finely Chopped Jalapenos seeded
• 1 Teaspoon of lime juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 pan.
2. In a medium size bowl mix – chicken, 1 cup of cheese, garlic – roll mixture into tortillas and place into pan.
3. In a sauce pan – melt the butter and stir in corn starch and cook for one minute. Add broth and whisk until smooth. Keep over heat until it bubbles and becomes thick. Stir in sour cream, chopped Jalapenos, lime, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Do not let it boil.
4. Pour mixture over enchiladas and top with the last cup of cheese.
5. Bake for 25 min – You will want to make sure the cheese has browned.

Eggnog Glazed, Eggnog Cookies

Eggnog Glazed, Eggnog Cookies

 

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 24 Cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup eggnog
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks, beaten
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Glaze
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4-1/2 cup eggnog

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.
3. Mix in the eggnog, vanilla extract, and beaten eggs.
4. Sift in the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Mix until just combined.
5. Scoop out tablespoon size drops onto the baking sheets
6. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until bottoms are light brown.
7. To make the glaze, add the eggnog to the powdered sugar, a 1/4 cup at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
8. Remove cookies from the oven, cool 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.
9. Make sure cookies are completely cooled before drizzling glaze over the top. Enjoy!

A great way to use up the left-over egg-nog!!!

Pep­per­mint Hot Choco­late Cookies

Pep­per­mint Hot Choco­late Cookies

Ingre­di­ents:

• 2 sticks but­ter (room temp)
• 1 C sugar
• 2/3 C brown sugar
• 2 1/4 C flour
• 3/4 C cocoa pow­der or hot choco­late mix
• 2 eggs
• 2 t vanilla
• 1 t bak­ing soda
• 1 C pep­per­mint crunch bak­ing chips
• 1/2 C semi-sweet or dark choco­late chips
• approx. 2 C mini marshmallows

Direc­tions:

1. Pre­heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa pow­der, and bak­ing soda until combined.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the but­ter & sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mix until combined.
4. Slowly add the dry ingre­di­ents to the large bowl and mix until just combined.
5. Stir in pep­per­mint & choco­late chips.
6. Form dough balls and place about 2″ apart onto parch­ment lined bak­ing sheets (this recipe makes between  around 4 dozen cook­ies so you can flash freeze some of the dough balls, then store in the freezer for later baking).
7. Bake for 10–12 min­utes. *At about the 8 minute mark, pull the cook­ies out and top with mini marsh­mal­lows (I did 4–6 per cookie). You might need to just lightly push them into the cookie. Then, return to the oven for the final few min­utes. The marsh­mal­lows should get nice & puffy, but not too gooey!

Oatmeal Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until mixture is light in color. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Then add the milk and the vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Either by hand or with the mixer on low speed, gradually beat the flour in to the sugar mixture until just incorporated.

Stir in the oats and chocolate chips by hand with a spatula.

Drop 1-inch balls of dough onto the cookie sheet. Place them about 1 1/2 inches apart, leaving room to spread.

Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the center.

Cool on baking sheet for at least 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 4 dozen

Cookie Hits of the Holidays at the Ranch

Hi Everyone,  I wanted to share with you the cookie hits if the Holidays!!  These are some of them:

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

Source: Taste and Tell

Ingredients:
1 stick melted butter
1 c white sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c cocoa
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 small jar maraschino cherries
1 c chocolate chips
1/4 c sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter and mix in the sugar. Let it cool for a bit then mix in the egg. Beat in baking powder, baking soda, salt, vanilla and cocoa, mixing after each addition. Slowly add the flour and mix well.

Shape the dough into small balls and line up on a prepared baking sheet. Make a small indentation in the top of each ball, flattening the dough into a cookie shape in the process.

Place one cherry in the indentation of each cookie. Save the juice from the cherries if you drain them. I didn’t, just pulled them straight from the jar.

Mix the chocolate chips and condensed milk in a double-boiler. Heat over a pot of simmering water on medium heat until melted. The mixture will be very, very thick. Add cherry juice a teaspoon at a time until the mixture becomes malleable and easy to shape. It took about 5 tsps of cherry juice for my mixture to reach the desired state.

Shape a bit of the icing over the top of each cherry, making sure it doesn’t run down the sides of the cookie. Bake for 10 minutes. Enjoy!