Orange Chicken

My husband LOVES orange chicken. It seems like no matter where we eat "Chinese" or get "Chinese" take out, Orange Chicken is what he orders. I feel like that is probably one of the worst dishes you can order off the menu -- the chicken is fried, the sauce has something obviously sweet in it and there aren't even too many vegetables. I always scold him about his choice, but alas, it really does NO good. So, I decided to try to make some myself. Since this was my first try at making a "fried" Chinese dish, I figured I better follow a recipe. I saw "The Pioneer Woman" do it on the Food Network, so I used her recipe. Here's how mine turned out:

I must say that the dish was absolutely delicious, but it honestly was kind of a pain to make. Frying up the chicken thighs which had been soaked in egg white and corn starch was not easy. I don't know if my oil wasn't hot enough or if it wasn't deep enough, but the pieces of chicken kept sinking to the bottom of my pan and sticking! That made the pan a mess to clean up. On the plus side, you could absolutely make this dish ahead of time, like way early in the day and then just put it together at meal time. I used the orange zest as she suggested and it added a lot of flavor. The sweetener that I chose for the dish was honey, since that's what I found first in the cupboard! I also halved the recipe to make just enough for the two of us. I added broccoli, which is sometimes included when you order take-out, to make things a little more balanced and healthy. I also used a 50/50 mixture of brown and white rice, with that same interest in mind. If you feel like experimenting in the kitchen, go for it. The taste was absolutely wonderful!

Here's the recipe I used :  Pioneer Woman Orange Chicken

Let me know how it goes, I'd love to hear. Maybe I can figure out what I can do to keep the chicken from sinking and sticking! I'd make it again if I could!

Triple Dark Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

I've been tinkering around with this recipe since I first made it (see my post here) one afternoon when I had a chocolate attack. I love the combination of dark chocolate and mint. It reminds me of my mom, who always kept a box of thin mints stashed in a cupboard, up high where we couldn't get to them easily. Apparently, she had her chocolate attacks too! Mom would have loved these cookies, of that I am sure!

My mom with 3 of her 4 grandsons one Christmas.

By adding and subtracting a few things from the original recipe, which I got from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, I've come up with a real winner of a holiday cookie! They look festive, thanks to the peppermint chips, and they are chewy and chocolatey in the best possible way!

I hope you enjoy them as much as we have! I've got to say, these may find a permanent spot on the Christmas Rotation! Thanks, Ree Drummond for the inspiration!

Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

2 sticks softened butter
2 c. sugar
2 large eggs
3 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Triple Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cookies

2 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa (100% Cacao)
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 c. Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. Nestle's white chocolate chips + a few extra for decorating 
1/3 c. Ande's Peppermint Crunch baking chips or finely chopped hard peppermint candies + a few extra for decorating

Preheat oven to 350. Using a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add vanilla. In another bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda and cocoa. Be careful adding the cocoa, or you'll end up with a dark chocolate snow storm on your counter. Add dry ingredients to the wet ones in 3 batches, mixing each in using slow speed.
Stir in all the chips until everything is just combined.
Using a large teaspoon or a smaller cookie scoop, add 1 T. portions to a baking sheet. I dotted the top of each scoop of dough with 2 or 3 white chocolate chips and a piece or 2 of the peppermint chips, so that they show and look pretty. Bake for about 10 minutes until they are just barely done. Cool for 4 minutes on baking sheet and move to a cooling rack for 10 minutes or until they are set. makes about 5 dozen + cookies.

Adventures in Baking and a Chocolate Emergency: Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got bored today and I wanted something chocolate. I started rummaging around on the top shelf of the pantry where I keep my baking supplies. I don't bake nearly as much as I used to, since most of the time it's just me and my hub. Our younger son is home for the summer from college, so that justifies just a little bit of baking, right? Plus, there was that chocolate craving thing happening.

After a minute of shifting around some bags and boxes, OUT JUMPED a half of a bag of Nestle's White Chocolate Chips....Hhmmm I thought, I saw some cookies with white chocolate chips on the Food Network on Saturday.....OH Happy Coincidence!!! And Bless You, Ree Drummond!!

I only made 1/2 of her recipe because I only had 1 cup of those Nestle's Morsels....but I did have everything else!! I quickly retrieved the bag of Nestle's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips I keep hidden in the very bottom back of the bread drawer for those chocolate emergencies (that's normal, right?) and I was off in a flash, gathering eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla etc. I love it when I can make a smaller batch of some homemade goodies. That way I don't feel nearly so guilty about putting  temptation in our path to healthy living. Here's her recipe but in the meantime you can enjoy my pictures. Can't you almost taste the ice cold milk I washed them down with??

Here they are cooling off:

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookes

And here they are right before I started wolfing them down with some milk:

And another good thing, I even had enough parchment paper to line the cookie sheets, so the clean up was minimal. They were yummy! Next time, I am going to add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts, probably either hazelnuts or macadamia nuts. They needed just a little crunch! Next time you are bored, start rummaging and see what you can come up with! Adventures in baking!