My Fake Fra Diavlo

At times when Danny and I go out to eat he likes to get fra diavlo which is basically a spicy tomato sauce (because I had never known that as I don't eat spicy things). I had some left over tomato sauce in the freezer that I had made and since I rarely make pasta I thought it would be a nice treat and a quick fix for Danny.



I started off with some shrimp that are deveined but still have their shells on. The only reason why I get them like this is because they are cheaper and it's not that much work to shell a shrimp as most people like to think because they are laaaaaazzzzzzyyyyyy.



I take about 1/2 the bag of shrimp and put them in a bowl and fill it with water so they can defrost, it also gives me time to do everything else...



While the shrimp defrost I poured my sauce into a pot, and I do make my own sauce, it took me a long time to figure out because I use to think it was just crushed tomatoes cooked down. And that's it. I've obviously come a long way and I make large pots now and freeze it so I can make fast dinners when I come home later at night.



To make my fake fra diavlo (because I never looked up a recipe for this I just winged it - or is it wung it?) I used this hot pepper flakes I got from Aldi because they just started carrying spices at the one near my house.



I added in about a teaspoon which I have to say translated to a big mistake. Anyway...



At this point I filled a pot with some water and turned it on, I'd be making bow ties that night as that's what Danny chose. You see his roles in cooking in our life are rather small, but picking the pasta is a major deal in this house.



I take some garlic and unpeel it.



And I put it in my brand NEW garlic press.



I pressed about 4 small cloves because I really like garlic. It's my best friend.



At this point the shrimp should be done defrosting. Now I will teach you to PEEL them. You start by pinching the tail of the shrimp and lightly pulling on it.



Then for the body you pinch the little legs and the rest of the shell can come off. After you do this a few times you get faster at it and it doesn't really matter. Do try to run your fingers across the flesh of the shrimp so that way you can make sure nothing got stuck on the shrimp.



Grace likes the smell of the shrimp but she doesn't get anything, so she's a little pissed.



I put all the shrimp in a baking dish and then...



I add all that nice garlic along with some salt and pepper and toss it together. After that I pop it into a 400 degree oven and then I just watch it for a few minutes until they all turn pink.

While all this is going on my pasta is cooking and so is my sauce. It all tends to finish at the same time because I've gotten better at this cooking thing.



This is how you know when the shrimp are done, they'll look like this. I then drain my pasta and do my plating.



This is the finished product. It came out good, and you can see Danny's place has a lot of sauce since he likes alot of spice, however I wasn't to keen on it because it felt like my mouth had the devil dancing in it because it was so damn hot.

Maple Oatmeal Cookies

I have a bad habit.

I am the type of person to go into my fridge, take out an item and think and obsess over one simple question: "What else can I do with you?"

It all starts because I like to utilize everything that I have, I like them to have more then one purpose.



This just happened with my fake maple syrup that I have in the fridge since the last time I made pancakes, which might have been March or April.

Then I decided it should go into a cookie, a nice Thankgiving style cookie.



I started this recipe with 1/2 cup sugar and 5 overflowing tablespoons of my fake maple syrup. I'm sure you can use real maple syrup too, but I don't have any, so this is what you get. While I measure that out I melted down 1/2 cup of butter. When that was ready I poured it in and incorporated it.



Then I added 1 cup of flour and mixed that in along with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt.



I also had some oatmeal (which I use for everything BUT oatmeal and normally in baking) and mixed in a cup of that. I only use the quick oats, I don't know how it would work with the normal ones, so let me know if you try and what happens....



I added in 1/2 cup of chopped nuts, I had almonds so that's what I put in, but I may try walnuts when I get some maybe next week. Then I took my favorite dried fruit next to figs: CRANBERRIES! and added them in too. I'm sure you can put raisins in with this too and bake them up but Danny doesn't really care for them and I like the tang that cranberries puts in so that's why I use them, plus I get the huge bags at BJ's.



I then dropped it onto a cookie sheet and baked them up. It seems I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Mostly likely this happened because I was to busy eating the cookie. I can say hands down this has became my favorite cookie without any chocolate (with the exception of the ginger snap) and that is hard to do. Just so you know they do spread but they don't end up super crunchy.



Just try them, I think they are a winner.

Maple Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup of melted butter
1/2 cup of sugar
5 overflowing tablespoons of syrup
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)
1/2 cup cranberries

preheat oven at 350 and bake for 10 minutes.

Island Cookies

"Moooooooooooommmmmmmm! I liek dis cookie!"

I was a cookie kind of kid. My Mom was the cookie queen. She would bake what seemed like all weekend and would send me to school with enough cookies for me, my class and my teacher. My Mom use to make me these cookies as a kid that were a coconut chocolate chip cookies. I loved them. Although they are still better when she makes them, I have my own variation of the cookie which I call and Island Cookie because well, coconut is kinda islandy (new word, courtesy of me) and I threw in some almonds into them too since I was out of macadamia.



In a bowl I creamed together 1 1/2 sticks of melted butter, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/3 cup of sugar, a teaspoon vanilla and an egg. I realized that I had to get chopping some of those nuts, but the laziness, it had me.



So I made Danny do it. I had him chop up enough almonds to fill up a 1 cup.



While he did that I mixed into my batter 1 2/3 cups sifted flour, a 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Then it was time for the add in's.



I added in the nuts....



Then two cups of chocolate chips....



And lastly a cup of shredded coconut.

I mixed it all up and then put about a tablespoon onto the cookie sheet, fitting 6 cookies on each sheet.



And then I stuck them in the oven...

When they were done they smelled so good and looked even better.



Just so you know, I'll be putting up at least two more recipes for cookies in the coming days since I've been preparing for Thanksgiving and baking for fun for people for work. If you are looking for a good cookie, try this one but always make sure to ask people if they have nut allergies before you make these!

Here you go!

Island Cookies:
1 1/2 sticks butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 2/3 cup sifted flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup coconut.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes!

My Spoon

I'd like to take some time off from writing recipes and my dinner quick fixes to tell you a story of my spoon.



This is my spoon. It is the best spoon in the world.

But I went to great lengths to get the spoon and I think it makes a nice story.

Before Danny and I got married we had purchased things to get Danny through life before I moved into our little apartment when we got married. Among the things we purchased was a set of three spoons at Bed Bath and Beyond. I didn't really like them because the wood wasn't smooth and if you know me you know me and texture goes a long way.

Texture makes my bottom teeth hurt and makes me gag when I eat lettuce. Texture is a moving force in my life.

Because of these crappy spoons I didn't use them to much even when I was in the apartment.

When we got married we had a couple weeks before we could jet away on our honeymoon to Europe. When we finally got there, the US was far from our minds but it didn't take us long to realize our US dollars didn't translate to much overseas, although we already knew this, it was more of a shock when we got there when we saw how much everything actually was.

So we watched out money.

We didn't buy many things but we made sure we ate well. We went from London to Oslo, Oslo to a rainy Copenhagen, to a beautiful Stockholm and then to Helsinki before we trudged forward to St. Petersburg and Tallinn.

It was in Helsinki that the two of us stumbled onto a huge outdoor market in the downtown area of Helsinki, as we walked around the little markets, realizing that the Euro was approximately 1 1/2 more then our dollars we chose to withdraw $60 from their Otto (the ATM). The money didn't go far, some cherries, reindeer meat, bread and cheese for lunch, a beer and a glass bear. We didn't have to much left, my husband wanted to keep some Euros, but then I saw it.

THE SPOON!

I was drawn to it like a fly to shit, and then I touched it.

It was smooth, it smelled like wonderful wood.

I had to have it.

And it was €14.

When Danny found me, my hands clasped around the spoon, Lord knows the look that was on my face, he agreed without me having to beg.

So the spoon you see in all of these blogs that have something that has been stirred or mixed together has come across many miles and many countries to get to my Tiny Ass Kitchen in West End. It has crossed through many time zones, countries, X-Ray Machines and manhandles by baggage handlers to get to my kitchen to mix my goodies that I lovingly share with all of you.

All hail the Finnish spoon!

Chocolate Mocha Crinkles

These cookies I'm about to show you today are one of the ones I get requested the most but I probably make them the least.

My husband describes these as: "Fucking great."

And Stepher's Steve claims they are: "Motherfucking Delicious"

How could they not be? After all they are a Chocolate Mocha Crinkle, but when you see what goes into the cookie you'll have to trust me, they are that good.

You begin the cookie with:



1) 1 1/3 cup brown sugar
2) 1/2 cup olive oil (or whatever oil you have, it's the one I keep on hand)
3) 1/4 sour cream (please don't lose me here)
4) 1 egg.

Yeah. Sour Cream. Just trust me, it makes these cookies nice and soft, moist, and it brings out the chocolate in them. And I'm sure even if Steve knew what was in them, he'd still eat them...

Now...



You'll want to mix everything up together, when that's done you have to start measuring the dry ingredients.




Start out by sifting 1 3/4 cup flour into the bowl.

Why sift?

Sifting makes the flour lighter, and in my opinion makes a better baked good. I actually don't own a proper sifter because everyone I have breaks because I use them so much. Because of that I just use my mother's small strainer which I "borrowed" when I moved.

Sorry Mom, but you had two.



After that you need to add in 3/4 cup coco powder,



2 teaspoons of instant coffee, a teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt and



1/8 of a teaspoon.... black pepper.

Just do it.

It's good. I promise.



When you mix it together you'll forget that you even put the pepper or the sour cream into it.

Then just like the ginger snap recipe you need to refrigerate this dough for at least 4 hours or more so it can set nicely.



How do you know this dough is ready? You can do the spoon test much like the ginger snap dough or you can just see it when you remove a chunk.



You then take a portion of the dough and roll it into a ball and then roll it in confectioners sugar (NOT granulated)



You can normally fit about 8 on a cookie sheet, I like to not make these cookies to big as I normally make most my cookies the size of my palm, I like these to be finished in 2 bites.



While they bake, the aroma may fill the house, so be prepared for you adoring public to fill the kitchen. (No. I don't give my cat chocolate. I'm a good kitty mom.)



When there done they will look like this. You can see the confectioners sugar stays on the top creating the crinkle effect while they bake.

Hope you enjoyed the post and if these cookies look super yummy, give them a shot and shoot me an email or comment to tell me how they went, and as always here is the recipe.

Chocolate Mocha Crinkles

1 1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour (sifted!)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Refrigerate dough for at least 4 hours. Roll into balls and roll in confectioners sugar. Bake at 350 for 11 minutes.

German Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps are probably my favorite cookie. My Oma use to make them when I was a kid and I also use to get them at church during Sunday School when Mrs. Acer would bring them in along with apple cider to dip them in. Since Thanksgiving is coming up I figured it would be a good time to start making them.

As usual I'm going to jump right into things....



You can start this recipe with 3/4 cup of melted margarine (or butter.) We all know that butter or a butter substitute is the best way to start the day.

While that melts....



Measure out a 1/4 cup of molasses. The molasses makes this cookie so please get good molasses, don't just get it at the dollar store (trust me I've seen it). I use the one with the rabbit on it.





You can add that molasses to 1 cup of brown sugar and add to it an egg and the now melted margarine. After that just mix up the batter and you'll have something that looks like this....



Then what you'll want to do is start going through your spice cabinet. For these cookies you need to make sure you have cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves and nutmeg. I also want to tell you now that if you don't utlize these spices to often except once or so a year, please throw them out. Although spices don't have an expiration date they well, go stale if you don't use them up. If you don't use them all the time try borrowing them from someone who does or get a baking buddy so this way you use them more often...


Then you'll need to sift 2 1/4 cups of flour and then the following spices:
1) a teaspoon cinnamon
2) a teaspoon ginger
3) 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
4) 2 shakes of nutmeg




When you have everything together in the bowl, mix it together....



It'll look like this, but then you have to do the hardest thing when it comes to cookies:

Wait.

These cookies aren't drop cookies. You can't just throw them on the cookie sheet and bake them up. These ginger snaps need to refrigerate for a MINIMUM of four hours. This way the dough will get hard enough for you to roll into a ball.

While you wait you can try doing the following things:
1) Go visit your Mom and give her your laundry to do. If she is awesome like my mom she'll do it and give you her BJ's card so you can go terrorize people there.
2) Go to the mall and watch all the misfits.
3) Go to Linen's and Things and marvel how it's going out of business.
4) Go to the Philly Pretzel Factory and pretend that's lunch.

At this point everything should be done.

So how do you know the dough is done?

When it does this:


The dough will be firm enough for you to roll into a ball, so take a small amount into your spoon and roll it into the ball, and then you roll it in regular granulated sugar.



Normally when you're rolling you can fit about 8 little balls on a cookie sheet.



You can then pop these cookies into the oven that is preheated for 375 and bake it for 8-10 minutes. While they bake you're house/apartment/hovel will begin to smell so wonderful and it reminds me of fall and the holidays. And if you think it smells good, wait till you see them...



But the best part is taking one an sharing it with someone who loves ginger snaps just as much as you....



Thanks for visiting the blog, and the Tiny Ass Kitchen! If you think these cookies are for you, here is the recipe!

German Ginger Snaps.
3/4 cup butter or margerine (softened/melted)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
2 1/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 shakes nutmeg

Chill for 4 hours or more and roll in granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375 and bake for 8-10 minutes