Pot Roast: It's what's for dinner!

Anyone that knows me very well knows that I love to bake. Most of the time it's a sandwich or bowl of Cheerios (or Lucky Charms, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cookie Crisp, etc) for dinner. But I've been more determined to cook lately and I'm proud to say that I've found a recipe that is just as good as my Meme's (and that is saying a LOT)! So if you're in the mood for comfort food.... you have come to the right recipe :)

Feast your eyes.........

That was pre-roasting, but trust me when I say it tasted 1,000 times more delicious than it looks here after 3 hours in the oven.

Pot Roast

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 3 hours

Ingredients

1 whole (3 pound) chuck roast

2 T. olive oil

2 white onions

6-8 carrots (I used more bc I love them)

1 cup red wine (I used beef broth because red wine gives me the icks)

3 cups beef stock (you could certainly use broth, but stock is a bit richer)

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 sprigs fresh rosemary

Kosher salt, to taste

Fresh cracked pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 275°. Take your roast out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking, to let it warm up a bit. Generously salt and pepper the roast on both sides. Pat the salt and pepper into the meat.

2. Using a large Dutch over, or oven-safe pot, heat the olive oil over med-high heat (I put my dial on the stove at 7 out of 10).

3. Cut the two onions in half, peel the outer skin off, and place cut side down in the pot. Brown the onions on both sides. Remove from pot and add the carrots, browning for 2-3 minutes. Remove the carrots from the pot and add the roast. Sear well on all sides (about 2 mins per side) to get a nice brown, crust.

4) Remove the roast and set on a plate. Stir in beef stock (or wine, if preferred) and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

5) Once the pan is deglazed, add the roast to the pot and add enough beef stock to come half-way up the roast (appx. 3 cups).  Add the carrots, onions and herbs.

6) Cover the pot and place in the oven for 3 hours, or until the roast is tender and pulls apart easily.

7) Once the roast is done and vegetables are tender, remove from the pot and let rest for 10 minutes before serving. If you let it sit in the hot liquid the meat and veggies will continue cooking and may become mushy.

*If you use a bigger roast  you will need to increase the cook time for appx. 1 hour per pound. (Ex. 4 pounds = 4 hours)

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soooooooo, I'm now obsessed. With making thick and chewy cookies. You know you have a problem when you get a craving for a cookie and end up having all of the ingredients in your kitchen for one mighty fine cookie. My mom doesn't even have flour in her pantry (I looked this past weekend). Clearly I did not get the baking gene from her.

I only had 1 stick of butter in my frigidaire, so I had to modify a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe a bit. And I threw in some leftover caramel bits from my a-mazin'  turtle cookies. I also used the rest of the Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate chunks I had in the cupboard. I can buy them in bulk at Central Market here in Dallas, but any chocolate you like will work. The result.... 100% delicious.

Do you ever wander how bakeries get those cookbook worthy looking cookies? I know how! I'll share my secret:

Start with a ball of dough

Pull the ball in 2 pieces

Turn the jagged edges up

"Smoosh" the two halves together

Place on the baking sheet with the jagged edges pointing up

And as a result you will/should get something like this......

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

yields approximately 22 cookies

These oversized cookies are chewy and thick, like many of the chocolate chip cookies sold in gourmet shops and cookie stores. They rely on melted butter and an extra egg yolk to keep their texture soft. To ensure the proper texture, cool the cookies on the baking sheet.

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 5/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 - 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup caramel bits

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

4. Roll 2 ounces (2 heaping tablespoons) of dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges just start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 14 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a spatula.

Turtle Cookies

This honestly may be the most amazing cookie ever, so of course it is fitting as my first ever blog post! Cut me some slack as I'm still learning how to do this. :)

My Baking Addiction is easily one of my top 5 favorite food blogs. I found this recipe on her website and was hesitant to make it because of the complexity of the ingredients (2 kinds of flour seemed like too much of a hassle for me) and the timing (how am I supposed to wait 24 hours to make these gems?), but trust me: IT. IS. WORTH. IT.

You could substitute different kinds of chocolate chips and nuts, but in the classic turtle tradition, I stuck with pecans. I think because of the sweetness of the caramel bits using any chocolate sweeter than "dark" would be too sweet.

I made these for a dear friend of mine when I was in Oklahoma this past weekend visitng my family and I described them to her as "legal crack." They are a fantastic combination of soft, chewy, sweet and salty. If you don't like them then I'm not sure we can be friends. Seriously. Try them and let me know your opinions.


Turtle Cookies

yields approximately 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake flour
• 1 2/3 cups bread flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups dark chocolate chips (I used Hershey's Special Dark Baking Pieces)
• 1 cup caramel pieces (I used Kraft Caramel Bits)
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Whisk flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Gently stir in the chocolate chips, then the caramel bits and finally the pecans.  Adding each seperately ensures an even distribution in each cookie.
3. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
5. Scoop 3 ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet.*
6. Bake until golden brown but still soft, 16 to 20 minutes.** Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more.
7. Repeat with remaining dough.

Notes

* These cookies spread quite a bit, even after being chilled for 24 hours, so make sure not to crowd the baking sheet. I used a jelly roll sheet and could only fit 6 cookies on a sheet.

** When the edges are barely starting to brown take them out of the oven. They will cook a bit more on the hot baking sheet.

-Kraft caramel bits are available at your local grocery store in the baking section.

This recipe is courtesy of My Baking Addiction.