Horseradish Cheese Dip

"You're welcome"!

This will be my response to your "Thank You" after you try this easy and tasty dip. There are oodles of horseradish cheese dip recipes out there on the internet. This particular version was thrown together by a good family friend. And her instructions to me? To use it as a base and build from there... try adding diced sun dried tomatoes, or perhaps artichoke hearts one time. Or mix in some lump crab, or even crumbled bacon! It is really great all on it's own though, and you can adjust the amount of horseradish to your particular liking. Serve it with crackers or vegetables, slather it on sandwiches, or make it a little saucier and serve it along side burgers or steaks off the grill. Again... "You're welcome"!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz of sharp (or extra sharp) cheddar cheese, grated/shredded
• 4 oz of smoked gouda, grated/shredded
• 3 TBSP mayo
• 1/4 Cup white wine or beer
• 3-4 TBSP or horseradish (I like Kelchner's brand - it's locally produced in PA)

*Here is my hope and a plea to you... Please don't buy the pre-shredded cheese in the bags. It lacks so much flavor! Buy a block of nice sharp cheddar and grate/shred it yourself. The taste is nicer and the moisture content will be slightly higher, making it mix into the other ingredients more nicely. It really will make all the difference!

Directions:

• Shred your cheese. I use my grating blade in my food processor, but you can use any hand-held grater.
• Mix your wet ingredients and add them to the cheese. The long strings of cheese will begin to break down as you stir. I like to stir and "chop" with the edge of a wooden spoon.
• Serve with crackers or vegetables.

Chocolate Crisp Ice-Cream Sandwiches

Ice-Cream... isn't it one of life's most simple pleasures? And especially wonderful and refreshing during an unusually hot month of June (at least here in Eastern PA)! I recently tried this chocolate wafer recipe posted by Joy Of Baking. I love a crisp cookie... ginger snaps, lemon snaps, anything with big flavor and a nice crunch! These certainly fit the bill - especially if you leave them in the oven for the full amount of time. I did experiment a bit with the thickness when cutting. As you'll see in the picture, the ones that I cut a little thicker got the beautiful crackles across the top... the ones that were sliced more thin, did not (but were even crunchier!). Either way you slice it (haha) the cookie is sturdy enough to mound a nice big scoop of ice cream on top of! And that's what makes this post perfect for a summer treat.

Chocolate Wafers

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (130 grams) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (50 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-processed) - I used Hershey's, because it is what I had on hand!
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons margarine (I used coconut oil)
• 2/3 cup (140 grams) packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (100 grams) white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg white

Directions:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and margarine/coconut oil until well blended. Add the sugars and vanilla extract and beat on high speed for about one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the egg white. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated.
3. Place the dough on your work surface and, using your hands, form the dough into a log shape that is about 9 inches long. Carefully wrap the dough in aluminum foil, parchment paper or wax paper and fold or twist the ends. Try not to flatten the log. Refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Using a sharp knife, slice into 1/4 inch thick wafers. Place on the baking sheet spacing about 1 inch (2.5 cm) apart. Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until the the cookies puff and the tops of the cookies have crackles (ripples). Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Can be stored in an airtight container, at room temperature, for about 10 days.

Makes about 36 cookies.

An example of what the cookies look like when slicing (I know... it looks like sausage. It's not - I promise you 100% chocolate-y goodness):

Fill cookies with your favorite ice-cream flavor! We love mint chocolate chip at our house, and it is especially refreshing when the temperatures and humidity start to rise. Now, if I could just talk my husband into one of those Cuisinart Ice-Cream machines... Ooooooo!

Hamburger Buns

I've tried quite a few hamburger bun recipes, but none I have felt were worthy of re-posting. Finally I have found one I feel I must share! It is a simple recipe, simple steps, and pretty easy to throw together the afternoon before a BBQ. This recipe makes 6 generous sized burger buns. You could easily double or triple the recipe. I did change a few things (I guess that is just my M.O., as my husband says) and I'll put those changes in parenthesis next to the original ingredients or instructions.

It's no secret that I'm a fan of King Arthur brand flour. The King Arthur website is a great place for fun baking products, but they also have a really nice recipe section that even allows people to write reviews on those recipes. These hamburger buns are really well rated. Try them and see if you like them too!

Seeded Hamburger Buns

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons butter or oil (I used coconut oil)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder, optional (I used onion flakes)
• 2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I substituted 1/2 cup of Whole Wheat and added 1 tablespoon ground flax seed)

Topping:

• 2 tablespoons Everything Bagel topping (I used more sesame seeds)
• 1 large egg white, beaten

Directions

1. To make the dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients, and mix and knead them, by hand, mixer, or bread machine, to make a soft dough.
2. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm place for an hour, until it's almost doubled in size.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased surface, flatten it slightly, and divide it into 6 pieces - each should weigh about 3 1/2 to 4 ounces.
4. Roll each piece into a ball.
5. Place balls into the greased cups of a hamburger bun pan, and flatten gently. (ok - I came to this part and went "huh?" too. No worries. You can simply line the dough up on a sheet of parchment paper over a baking sheet. Leave 1/2 inch between the patties after you lightly press them (and slightly indent the centers). The dough will rise and bake so that the buns touch and stay soft on the sides.)
6. Cover (with saran wrap sprayed lightly with cooking spray) and let rise until the buns have doubled in size (about 30-45 min). Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Bake buns for 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven, brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle with the seed topping. Do this quickly, or the seeds won't stick!
8. Return the buns to the oven and bake for 5 to 8 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.