Hurray for things covered in chocolate!.  This dough makes that perfect “crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside” kind of cookie.  You just add the stuff. And this time, it’s chocolate covered sour cherries or….chocolate covered raisins.   Let’s change it up from chocolate chip.  Seriously.  This is like Raisinets in a cookie!  Or chocolate covered cherries!  Step away from the chocolate chips.

First thing to do is:

• Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips.  I know I said step away from them.  Kidding.
• Into the melted chips, stir 1 cup of either dried cherries or raisins

Spread them on to parchment and pop them into the refrigerator while you make your cookie dough.

Well that was easy.  Now get your ingredients together.

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 cups flour

Cream the butter and sugars together.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix.  Stir the soda and salt into the flour and mix.  That’s it.  Now….take the raisins or cherries from the refrigerator and break them apart a bit.  Stir by hand into your dough.  Don’t use the mixer here because they’ll break up too much.

Scoop onto your baking sheet.  This makes about two dozen cookies.

Bake at 375 for about 12-14 minutes or until light golden brown.  Here’s where I’ll share a super secret tip that a friend taught me years ago.  In fact, it got her disqualified from a 4-H baking contest.  After your cookies come out of the oven, let them sit for just a minute….and then SLAM the tray on your counter.  Chewy cookies accomplished.  So tasty.  I brought some to my mom today.  We sat on the swing outside for a while and just talked.  Sweet times.  Don’t forget to honor your mama this weekend if you’re lucky enough to still have her.

Milk and cookies are good for the soul.  Enjoy.

Black and Pearl Cupcakes were inspired by Joy The Baker and her Black and White Pretzels.  Something simple made elegant.  Of course I couldn’t resist a bit of Bailey’s in the frosting.  A while back, some of my Canadian friends gave me a Visa gift card that could be spent only in Canada!  No pressure, right?  Just buy something and hurry because time is limited.  There’s a lot of shopping and Toronto is quite beautiful.  I just had no time.

So I ended up at the airport duty free shop buying chocolate and Bailey’s in an effort to spend my gift card.  I’m not much of a drinker so it takes a while and it’s a big bottle.  Stop by and we can have Bailey’s in our coffee.  The chocolate is long gone.

So…..black and pearls, satiny, creamy, chocolate, rich and well dressed.  Wow.  That’s a lot of adjectives for a cupcake.  They deserve it.

Here’s a tip.  If you don’t want a big old bottle of Bailey’s sitting in your fridge, buy a little tiny one.  Surely they sell little tiny ones?  Or….you can skip it.  But don’t tell me.  The little bit that I use in the frosting is perfection!

Here’s what you’ll need – we are only making 12 cupcakes.  Seriously, who needs 24 cupcakes?

• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup water

Mix softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla, mix well.  Blend the dry ingredients and add about half to the bowl along with half the buttermilk and water, and mix.  Well.  Add the remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk and water (one more time) mix well.  Ta da!  Now just fill each cupcake liner about 1/2 full (38-40 grams each) and bake at 375F for 18-22 minutes.  Cupcakes from scratch.  You are a queen.  Or king.

And now for the frosting.  While the cake must be moist and rich, the frosting is the star.  Mmm-hmm.

You’ll need:

• 6 oz softened cream cheese
• 2-2/3 cups powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp Bailey’s Irish Cream

That’s it.  Mix the softened cream cheese until fluffy.  Slowly add the powdered sugar.  Add the salt and Bailey’s and mix until smooth and creamy.  Decorate your cooled cupcakes in any way you wish.  Have fun!  Then you can lick the bowl because you are a grown up now.  If you want to lick the bowl, you do it.  There is still a little rebel left in me.

I don’t know what inspires me to make things sometimes but it just hits me, or someone says something that sparks an idea.  I think what appeals to me about strudel is that it’s simple and rustic and fillo dough is kind of a crazy thing all on it’s own.  If your strudel doesn’t come out perfectly, even better.  Life is not perfect, why should your strudel be?  Just slice it, sprinkle with powdered sugar and voila!  Du bist wunderbar! You are wonderful!

Strudel is the national dish (one of them) of Austria.  Don’t you love a country that has three national dishes?  ”We can’t pick just one!  We must have three!!”.  It came to Austria by way of Turkey and Hungary, gaining popularity in the late 18th century.  Strudel can be any type of filling, sweet or savory and believe me, we’re going to be trying them all in this household.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 box frozen fillo dough
• 6 tbsp butter
• 4 apples
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 beaten egg

Take one of the fillo dough pouches and the cream cheese out and let come to room temperature.  Rule number one (which I don’t always follow) is “mise en place”.  French for everything in it’s place.  If you have everything set up and ready to go the whole experience is more fun. Yes, you can omit raisins and/or walnuts.  Just don’t tell me.

Mix the room temperature cream cheese with 1/4 cup white sugar.  Cover and set aside.

Peel, core, and dice the four apples.  Melt 2 tbsp of the butter in a saucepan and add the apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, lemon zest and raisins.  Cook until apples are just beginning to soften.  Set aside to cool.  When cool, be sure to drain the apples – you don’t want all that liquid making your strudel soggy.  Then stir in the walnuts.

Now for the fun!  Unroll the fillo dough and immediately cover with damp paper towels.  This dough is like tissue paper and will dry out in a hurry so keep it covered while you’re working.  This recipe makes two strudels so I prepare them together.  Place one sheet of fillo dough on a clean, dry surface.  Brush with the remaining butter that you’ve melted.  Repeat until you have four sheets of dough times two because you’re making two.  Brush the final layer with butter too.  The layers of butter is what makes this flaky pastry…deliciousness.

Place half the fruit filling on each of your dough sheets going down the long side, leaving a two inch border on the edges.  Then add half the cream cheese filling in a row along the top.  Roll it up, rolling the filling side towards the unfilled dough sheet.  You can fold the ends under if you like.  Or not.  Place seam side down on a parchment lined baking sheet and cut some slits in the top so that steam can escape.  Brush with beaten egg for a beautiful golden color when baked. That’s it!  Easy, right?

Bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.  If you have a blow-out, don’t worry!  Remember, beautiful but not perfect.

Cool, slice and sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and experience Austrian national cuisine.  Maybe you should turn on The Sound Of Music.  And a cappuccino wouldn’t hurt.