Halloween Candy Cookies

Leftover candies and bars find a new use in cookies.

Chop leftover Halloween candies and tuck the pieces into cookie dough in lieu of chocolate chips. Almost any candy will work—Butterfingers, Heath Bars, Milky Ways, Snickers, Kit Kats, M&Ms and even Twizzlers, gum drops, and jelly beans.

Ingredients: 
  

• 3 2/3  cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4  teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4  teaspoon coarse salt
• 1  cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 1/4  cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1  cup granulated sugar
• 2  eggs
• 2  teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 to 3  cups chopped candy bits (such as Butterfingers, Baby Ruths, Heath Bars, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Twizzlers, jelly beans, M&Ms, Lifesavers)

Cooking Instructions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.

2.  Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
3.  Beat butter and sugars together with a mixer until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Stir in candy bits.
4.  Drop dough by tablespoons onto baking sheet. Bake 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pistachio Pesto

Pistachios add a different flavor twist to pesto

Ingredients:  

• 2  cloves garlic
• 1/2  cup shelled pistachios
• 2  cups loosely packed basil
• 1  tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2  teaspoon salt
• 1/3  cup extra-virgin olive oil (or enough to make dip creamy)
• 1/4  cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Cooking Instructions:

1. Place garlic in food processor; pulse until chopped. Add pistachios, basil, lemon juice and salt; pulse until nuts are finely chopped.
2. Add olive oil gradually through food chute and process until well combined. Add cheese and pulse 2 or 3 times.

Pho (Beef Noodle Soup)

Recipe by Christina Eng

 Just before serving, add a nest of rice noodles and razor-thin slices of beef to the fragrant hot broth.

The hot broth ladled over the noodles and raw beef cooks the beef, which is why its important to cut it as thinly as possible. Eat the noodles and beef with chopsticks, and savor the broth with a spoon.

Ingredients:

     —  Broth:
   

•   1  tablespoon olive oil
•   2  medium yellow onions, quartered lengthwise
•   1  piece (3-inch) ginger, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
•   3  quarts lower-sodium chicken broth
•   1 1/2  pounds boneless beef chuck, sliced crosswise into 1-inch strips
•   1  cinnamon stick
•   3  whole cloves
•   3  whole star anise

   
    —  Noodles and Beef:
   

•   1  pound dried rice stick noodles, ¼-inch wide, usually labeled banh pho
•   1/4  cup fish sauce
•   2  teaspoons sugar
•   1/2  teaspoon salt
•   1/2  pound boneless beef rib-eye, strip or flank steak, slightly frozen, sliced paper-thin across the grain    and cut in bite-size pieces
•   1  medium yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
•   3  green onions, thinly sliced
•   1  pound mung bean sprouts, tails trimmed, rinsed
•   1/2  bunch fresh cilantro
•   1/2  bunch fresh basil
•   2  limes, cut into wedges

 

Cooking Instructions:

   1. To prepare broth, heat oil in a large stockpot. Add onions and ginger; sauté until brown. Add chicken broth, beef chuck, cinnamon, cloves and star anise. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat and simmer 1 hour.
   2. To prepare noodles, soak noodles in warm water until pliable, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain well.
   3. After broth has simmered 1 hour, remove from heat. Remove cooked beef, and save for another use. Strain broth into another large stockpot, discarding onions, ginger and whole spices. Stir in fish sauce, sugar and salt. Just before serving, bring back to a full boil.
   4. Arrange yellow onion, green onion, bean sprouts, cilantro, basil and lime wedges on a small platter.
   5. To cook noodles, bring a large pot of water to a full boil. Place noodles, one or two servings at a time, into a sieve and lower into boiling water. Cook 20 to 30 seconds. Drain well and transfer to large individual bowls. Repeat until all noodles are done.
   6. Top each bowl of noodles with a few slices of steak. Ladle in 2 cups of hot broth. The heat should cook the meat instantly. Garnish with yellow onion, green onion, bean sprouts, cilantro, basil and lime wedges.

Bacon Cheddar Scones Recipe

Recipe by Chef Grady Spears

These savory scones are perfect for an indulgent Sunday breakfast or brunch.

Ingredients:

• 2  cups all-purpose flour
• 2  teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4  teaspoon salt
• 1/2  teaspoon pepper
• 1/8  teaspoon sugar
• 6  tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1  cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 3  green onions, minced
• 2  jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
• 5 to 6  bacon slices, cooked and chopped into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2  cup buttermilk or heavy cream, divided
• 1  egg
• 2  tablespoons milk

Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, pepper and sugar in a large bowl. Gradually cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles small peas. Stir in the cheese, just until combined. Add green onions, jalapeños, bacon, and 1/3 cup buttermilk. Mix by hand just until all the ingredients are incorporated. If the dough is too dry to hold together, use remaining buttermilk, adding 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough is pliable and can be formed into a ball. Mix as lightly and as little as possible to ensure a light-textured scone.
3. Place dough on a lightly floured board. Pat dough into a ball. Using a well-floured rolling pin, flatten dough into a circle about 7 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 8 equal wedges.
4. Whisk egg and milk together in a small bowl and brush tops of each scone.
5. Place scones on an ungreased baking sheet and bake 18 to 20 minutes, until golden brown and no longer sticky in the middle. Serve warm.

Southern Fried Chicken

by Edna Lewis

Soaking the chicken in salt water—or brining—is a trick all good Southern cooks use. Many say it’s the key to the flavor and tenderness of their fried chicken. For a ham flavor, country ham is simmered with the fat. You can substitute 2 cups vegetable oil for the lard. 

 Ingredients:

• 1/2  cup plus 1 teaspoon, salt, divided 
• 6  cups water 
• 3  pounds chicken, cut into 8 pieces 
• 1  quart buttermilk 
• 1  pound lard 
• 1/2  cup unsalted butter 
• 1/2  cup country ham pieces, or 1 thick slice country ham cut into 1/2-inch strips 
• 1  cup all-purpose flour 
• 2  tablespoons cornstarch 
• 1/2  teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Cooking Instructions:
 

1. Combine 1/2 cup salt and water in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken; seal bag and marinate in refrigerator  8 hours. Drain. Combine chicken and buttermilk in a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours. Drain on a wire rack.
2. Combine lard, butter and ham in a heavy skillet. Cook over low heat, skimming as needed, until butter stops foaming and ham is browned, about 30 minutes. Remove ham with a slotted spoon. Increase heat to medium-high and heat fat to 335F.
3. Combine flour, cornstarch, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper on a piece of wax paper.
4. Dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture; tap well to remove excess.
5. Working in batches, place chicken, skin side down, into heated fat. Do not crowd. Cook until chicken is golden brown and cooked, 10 to 12 minutes per side. Pierce with a fork; if juices run clear, chicken is done. Remove and drain thoroughly on a wire rack or crumpled paper towels.

The Relish Cake Contest Is On!

There are some who say that you can't have your cake and eat it too. To those people we say: Phooey.

If you want to find out what our official Favorite Relish Cake of all time is and find out how you can win a set of gourmet Circulon cookware and a set of world-class Wusthof cutlery, follow the Trail of Bread Crumbs starting with This One.

To enter to win the prize, email us the name of the cake at contest@relish.com, and include your name! The winner will be chosen in a random drawing on Friday, July 15. Good luck! And if you're still hungry for cake, keep strolling in our Cake Contest slide show for more yummy cakes and free recipes! 

Healthy Potato Recipes

Long assigned to the produce aisle's doghouse, potatoes are making a breakout. During the high-protein, low-carb craze, this meat-and-you-know-what staple was transformed into a tuber non grata. Health-conscious consumers began believing that potatoes were diet-sabotaging carb bombs. Then there was that whole "couch potato" thing. All in all, potatoes had a serious PR problem.

But now there's cause for spud-lovers to rejoice. The consensus in the weight-loss community is that high-protein diets aren't any more effective than any other kind of diet. The secret to weight loss is calories—fewer of them. In addition, a group of Australian researchers came up with the Satiety Index to determine which foods are the most filling. Which food did they discover has the most "stick-to-your-ribs" power? The potato. Bravo!

We'll admit that the potato doesn't have the charisma of, say, arugula. But let's take a moment to consider its virtues—besides its hunger-fighting power. It's cheap. It keeps. It's available everywhere. It's nutritious. And a medium-size baked potato has only 130 calories.

Even better, it's versatile. Its mildness means it blends with anything. Its starch content gives heft to soups, sauces and stews. Texture-wise, it ranges from the creamy-waxy to crumbly-starchy, so it's at home in just about any dish, chunky or smooth.

So if you've been avoiding potatoes, take another look. There's a reason it's America's favorite vegetable. Take that, arugula!