Chicago Chocolate Tour

I have some GREAT friends!

My friend Nicole surprised me with a walking tour from Chicago Chocolate Tours.  Let's just say I was so excited I may or may not have squealed a pitch so high that only my dogs could hear it.  After a lot of deliberation, we picked the Chocolate Locations of Lakeview and on what could possibly one of the most gorgeous weekends of the year so far, set out for an afternoon of Chicago and chocolate.

I left my husband at home.  He was not pleased.  I did not care.

So we met up for some pre-chocolate lunch.  Yes, we ate in preparation for a chocolate tour.  We decided to go with sushi from Tank Sushi on Lincoln Avenue.  This is just a sampling of what we got:

Tank Sushi, how I love you

We planned on only eating a little to make sure we had plenty of room for chocolate.  Instead, we ate about $90 worth of sushi.  Yes, it was that good.

Not that I had any issues eating all the chocolate put in front of me, though.

We met up with our tour guide Sarah at Argo Tea in Lakeview.

Sarah is adorable and I wanted her entire outfit.

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Empanadas

If you want to see a commentary-free version of this recipe, go here!

On occasion I like to torture myself.  There are many things that I have tried to make and they never quite turn out right.  bite-size breakfasts, cut-out cookies, pasta with chickpeas and empanadas/calzones.

It is so frustrating because I love them.  The perfectly baked dough.  The delicious fillings perfectly heated.

Nope, never happens for me.

I’m not sure why I thought this would be any different, but when I saw this recipe for Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Empanadas from Pillsbury, I just HAD TO MAKE IT!  I know it is going to taste good, but I know it won’t be as pretty as the perfect little empanadas on Pillsbury’s website.

Or would they?

© You Want Me to Cook?
Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Empanadas

What I Made: June 16 & 17, 2012

Ah, the weekend.  I often try to take it a little easy on the weekends since I cook a lot during the week.  For some reason this weekend, I was incredibly motivated to cook and bake.

Okay, well I wasn't motivated ALL weekend.  Saturday morning was spent running errands and I wasn't in the mood to make lunch, so we picked something up.  I kicked it into high gear for dinner.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Portobello Mushroom Burgers

I got the recipe for Portobello Mushroom Burgers from All You.  Initially, I was looking for a Mushroom-Quinoa Burger I found in January's issue, but for some reason it was nowhere to be found on their website.  Since I recycle my magazines as soon as I've read them, the recipe has been lost (to me at least) forever.

What I Made: June 8, 2012

I was a cooking fool on Friday.  

I'd like to stress the "fool" part.

I slightly overdid it and then was out of commission for the weekend.  The good news is that I was back to cooking on Monday and I have a lot of delicious pictures for your consideration.

For breakfast, I went with Pistachio-Chai Muffins from Cooking Light.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Pistachio-Chai Muffins

I have to admit, I'm more of a sweet breakfast muffin kind of gal, but my opinion isn't the only one that counts.  My husband took well over half a batch to work.  He returned with empty containers and said they got a big thumbs up.

What I made: June 4, 2012

Monday's are Vegan days and all my recipes came from Vegan Diner, by Julie Hasson!

Since I was making a sandwich, I decided to tackle making my own hamburger buns.  Why?  Because any vegan bread I've ever bought was dry and icky.  The bread I've made (and I've only made non-yeast breads) has been delicious, so I gave it a try.

It wasn't as hard as I thought and the results... well look for yourself:

© You Want Me to Cook?
Old Fashioned Hamburger Buns

My Wilton Portfolio – Chapter #1

Last week, I finished my final Wilton class.  Four Classes in three months.  Sounds exhausting, but I really had a great time and I’m sad it’s over.

Now I have to figure out what to do with my newly acquired skills.  Truth is, I’ve learned a lot, but I’m by no means an expert at decorating cakes, cupcakes and cookies.  I need practice!  So what I’ve decided to do is bake and decorate my way through the lesson books.

To keep from getting bored with one medium, I’m going to alternate between each of the four class books starting with the first one – Decorating Basics.

My first chapter of this undertaking is found on page 16 of the Decorating Basics book and called Party Partners.  (P.S. You can buy the lesson manuals from Joann's Fabrics without taking the class, so if you want to follow along, but don't want to take the class, jump on-line or head over to the nearest store)  Wilton has a lot of their designs on-line, but unfortunately, there’s no picture available for this one so I’ll give you the quick run-down of what the lesson entails.

• Preparing Roll-Out Cookie and Chocolate Roll-Out Cookie Recipes and cut using a round cookie cutter.
• Decorating the Chocolate Cookies with:
• Snowflake Star
• Spiral of Stars
• Baby Carriage
• Large Star
• Daisy Flower
• Decorating the Plain Roll-Out Cookies with:
• Star Flower
• Blue Star
• Heart
• Number 1

Wilton’s Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – May 19, 2012

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Wilton’s Chocolate Roll-Out Cookie recipe located on their website.

As I am baking and decorating my way through my Wilton Class Books, I needed a good cut out cookie recipe.  Actually, I needed a good CHOCOLATE cut-out cookie recipe.  Oddly enough, I didn’t have any in my archive of recipes, so I took the suggestion of the book (Class #1 – Decorating Basics) and went on their website for their cookie recipe.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies

They are basic roll-out cookies. 

Yep, kinda boring without any decorating, but I’ll get to that in a future post.

There is no photo of these cookies on their site, so I can only go based on what I see in the book.  Although my cookies aren’t as “smooth” on top – and I wish I could figure out how to do that – they look very similar.

Just take my word for it.  Please?

Toffee-Flavored Coffee

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? – March 4, 2011

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Recipe originally published in Taste of Home, Holiday Collection 2008.

I LOVE Starbucks!  In fact, I did a short stint there (well I worked for Target but I was in the Starbucks) and I did love making the drinks.  It was a lot of fun… but working for Target sucks rocks, so my “career” as a barista was much shorter than I had liked. 

I’m not a fan of a regular cup of coffee, but give me a tasty latte or iced drink and I’ll be set for the morning.  Now, I fantasize about owning a beautiful and commercial grade espresso machine with steam, but I know that’s not going to happen… at least anytime soon.  Therefore, I’m always on the lookout for recipes that don’t require one.

This particular recipe includes toffee and butterscotch.  I can’t even get that combination from Starbucks (they don’t have a butterscotch syrup) which is a shame because I love butterscotch.  Also, it uses brewed coffee so I didn’t have to worry brewing shots of espresso or steaming milk.  I found this one in a holiday collection magazine so I’m guessing that it is meant to be served for special occasions, but I’m the type of person who would drink Pumpkin Spice Latte every day of the year, so I don’t care.

© You Want Me to Cook?
Toffee-Flavored Coffee

First, take in the awesomeness of my Chicago Blackhawks mug.  It was a gift from my husband, bought from Hawk Quarters Blackhawks Store, and the main vessel of my morning coffee.

The coffee looks very decadent, rich and creamy at least from the top.  Yes, you can’t see the coffee through the mug.  Then I looked at the picture from Taste of Home and realized that they didn’t photograph theirs in a clear mug either.

Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Blondies

Recipe modified by You Want Me to Cook? - February 22, 2011

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Recipe originally published in All You, January 2011.

I enjoy baking, but it tends to be last on my cooking list.  If I run out of time, there are plenty of bakeries I can visit to satisfy my sweet tooth.  Also, my husband is a sweet-fiend.  If I bake something, I literally have to hide it from him or he’ll eat the entire dish.

On occasion, I’ll stumble across a great bar cookie recipe.  These tend to get pushed up on the cooking list since it is mix, pour and bake.  I have to admit that the peanut butter/pretzel/chocolate chip combo was very appealing and I was excited to make these.

My finished product:

© You Want Me to Cook?
Chocolate Chip-Pretzel Blondies

One task I have yet to master is having my bar cookies lay flat and not overcook on the edges.  I know there’s a trick to it… I just don’t know what it is.  They still looked good enough to eat though.

Yummy Chocolate Cake

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – February 3, 2011 and finished on February 5, 2011

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Recipe originally published in Taste of Home daily e-zine on Thursday, September 11, 2008

Taste of Home has “field editors” which are basically people like me who write recipes, send them in, and then get paid a small amount for their submissions.  I guess they can also claim they’re “published” but that’s neither here nor there.  When you read their e-zines or magazine, usually the chef will write a little blurb, either about who likes it, why they came up with it, how it is a family tradition, etc…  So this recipe’s blurb was about how the baker and her husband are trying to eat lighter but still wanted sweet treats to enjoy now and again.  That’s sounds like me, so I decided it was time to give this one a try.

My finished product: © You Want Me to Cook?

Picture published with recipe: © Taste of Home

I made my cake in a different size pan (I’ll explain in detail later) so not only is it a little thicker, the frosting is also thicker.  I didn’t use chocolate curls because (a) I didn’t have the equipment to make them and (b) I didn’t feel like making them.

Pretzel Bark

Recipe modified by Gretchen Wilson – Christmas 2009

For a commentary-free and printer-friendly version of it, please click here.

Recipe originally published in Kraft Foods Magazine, Holiday 2009.

I can never make enough Christmas cookies.  I love having a HUGE variety.  I always plan big and buy everything I need.  Unfortunately for me, I usually get exhausted about half way through the process.  It isn’t that I hate it or I don’t want to continue, I just get tired and seem to run out of time.  Therefore, I’m usually looking for very simple recipes that involve melting, mixing, cooking… the basics.  My husband loves chocolate, so I thought I’d give this recipe a try.  He loves it and requested it again Christmas 2010.  It will be a permanent fixture on my cookie list.

My finished product:

Picture published with recipe: ©Kraft Foods

It was incredibly easy and looks exactly like the photos of Kraft’s website.  Of course, it tastes good too, so it is a winner all the way around.