Celebrating the USA with Korean Short Ribs

We are those middle age people now who have a freezer dedicated to meat. Last year we bought a quarter cow and half a pig and filled our freezer to the brim. We've faithfully gone to the freezer and picked cuts of meat for meals and it has been great! We are getting to the bottoms of the bins and trying to finish up some cuts before the next quarter cow comes. I sent Andy on a mission to pick a piece of meat for July 4th for dinner - he picked beef short ribs. Since we had the day off and decided not to relax, instead we worked our hind ends off all day doing yard work and everything in between so a crockpot recipe was greatly appreciated. We celebrated the birth of the good ol' USA with Korean Short Ribs - I mean why not? These were delicious! I am zero percent a fan of cooking in a crockpot while I'm home, mostly because I have to smell it all day and worry it's not cooking properly or too much. I almost forgot these were on the counter we had so much going on a day. It was wonderful to have a dinner ready to go with some added rice and veg to fortify us to walk to the fireworks and have some fun with friends.

Slow Cooker Korean Short Ribs
4 pounds beef short ribs
Sauce:
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup beef broth
2 tbs rice vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tbs sesame oil
4 cloves garlic minced
1 tbs fresh ginger minced
1 medium onion thinly sliced
1 tsp red pepper flakes optional or 2 tablespoons Gochujang
Thickening:
3 tbs cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Instructions
Place ribs in the crock; top with sliced onion.
In a small bowl, mix all sauce ingredients and pour over the ribs. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours, or on high 3-4 hours.
Remove ribs from the cooker. Skim fat from the liquid.
Mix the cornstarch and water and whisk into liquid; blend well. Place meat back in the pot and cook for 20 minutes.

Therapy in the form of a bagel

Bagels equal happiness in our house. They can be breakfast, lunch, dinner or even a snack. Homemade bagels bring even more happiness and even hugs. I'm not a raisin fan, but yes I did make these bagels for my family. They all love raisins and bagels. I've found bagels are fun to make - they don't take forever either. There's something fun and possible therapeutic making the bagel shape and boiling them. I did the egg wash too - they smelled so good, but raisins? Nope. I may have to made another batch of a kind I like next week... we'll see. I don't need to have one to know they really enjoyed them. 15 minutes after they were out of the oven the cut one up to split between them and gobbled it up. I do love when they love what I bake.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tbsp dry active yeast
3 tbsp brown sugar, divided
4 1/2 cups bread flour (plus more, as needed)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins
Egg Wash
1 egg white
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions
In a small bowl, add the warm water, dry active yeast and 1 tbsp brown sugar. Stir to combine and set aside.
In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, add the 4 1/2 cups of bread flour, the remaining 2 tbsp brown sugar, salt, ground cinnamon and raisins. Stir to combine.
Your yeast mixture should be bubbly and foamy. Once it has reached this point, add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients.
If using a stand mixer, use the dough hook and knead for 10 minutes. You may need to add in a bit of extra flour to keep the dough workable but soft.
If mixing by hand, start by stirring the dry ingredients into the yeast mixture until a shaggy dough forms. At this point, pour the contents onto a clean surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes. Add the extra 2-3 tbsp of bread flour as needed to keep the dough soft but workable. Knead by pushing the dough, turning and folding it in half. Repeat this for 10 minutes.
Once the dough has finished kneading, allow it to rest for 5 minutes.
Use a sharp knife or bench scraper to cut the dough into 8 equal sized pieces. (Cut the dough in half, then each half in half again and then once more)
Shape your bagels. Take each portion of dough and knead into a tight ball. Once in a ball, press your thumb into the center of the ball and gently squeeze and pull the dough while rotating it around your thumb to create the bagel shape. Place onto a parchment or silicone lined 3/4 cookie sheet (this is just a larger cookie sheet).
Repeat with the remaining dough.
Cover the cookie sheet with plastic wrap and allow the bagels to rise for 20 minutes or until puffed up and no longer wrinkly.
Preheat the oven to 425°F once the bagels have risen.
In a large pot, boil about 4 inches of water.
While the water is coming to a boil, whisk together all of the egg wash ingredients and set aside.
Once the water is at a rolling boil, carefully drop the risen bagels into the boiling water one by one. You may have to do this in a few batches. Boil the bagels for about 1 minute, flip over to the other side and boil for an additional minute.
Using a large slotted spoon or spider strainer to remove the bagels and return to the lined cookie sheet and brush with the egg wash.
Once all of the bagels have boiled, bake in the 425° F oven for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown.
Allow the bagels to cool for 10 minutes before cutting and enjoying.
Store in a zip top bag in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Cute Cactus for a Cute Girl

The most common questions asked about this girl's birthday cake this year "Why a cactus?" Why not? That's what she asked for and honestly - it wasn't nearly as hard as it could have been. She isn't the biggest fan of cake - but she does love buttercream. We opted to try strawberry cake and vanilla frosting - it was a hit. I made the cakes a few weeks before her birthday. Andy and I were in Maine for a week then the week we came home was VBS - so there was zero time to be baking cakes. So planning ahead for the win. I baked them, wrapped, and froze them. When it was time to decorate - we just needed to whip up the frosting and get creative. Those flowers were something else. I've never done flowers like that before so it was trial and error. I made a first set and they were soft and melty. I tried again and put the frosting in the freezer to firm up - then piped them quick and put the flowers in the fridge. They were easy to peel off the parchment and add to the cake. I do need a new leaf tip - because none of my tips work well for that. This cake was wonderful - especially with the frosting. All you frosting haters out there can say whatever. When I tried a little piece I'd cut off for shaping I was a little worried it was too tart - but added with frosting and it was the perfect balance. Hard to believe we only have one more year until there's a teenager in the house.

Strawberry Cake
3 whole eggs, room temperature
1 egg white, room temperature
2/3 cup buttermilk , room temperature
2/3 cup sour cream , room temperature
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/8 cup freeze dried strawberry powder, (freeze dried strawberries pulsed to a powder – the powder should fill up 1/8 cup)
1 15.25 oz box Strawberry Cake Mix

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees convection bake (if using traditional bake oven settings, just leave the cake in the oven a little longer). Prep three 6" cake rounds (or two 8" cake rounds) with a wipe of shortening and dust of flour. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together all the ingredients except for the cake mix. Stir until all the ingredients have been fully incorporated. Sift in the cake mix and gently fold in the jimmies. Don't overmix! Split the batter evenly between the prepared cake rounds.
Bake for 25-27 minutes until the centers have baked through completely (don't overbake). Remove from the oven, let cool in the pan for 30 seconds, then flip the cake rounds out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Wrap the cake rounds up in plastic wrap and store in the freezer until you're ready to frost the cake.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature (3 sticks)
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 - 4 Tbsp heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, using the paddle or whisk attachment whip butter on medium-high speed (if using whisk attachment whip on high speed) until nearly white and very fluffy, about 7 - 8 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Add in powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract and mix on low speed until blended, then increase speed to medium and beat until very light and fluffy, about 5 - 6 minutes, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
Immediately spread over cooled cake or cupcakes.

Not real marbles... those are too crunchy

For our second treat for a meeting at our house 12 hours before we are getting on a plane - cookies. These I was able to make a few days ahead and stash them in the fridge. When I had the oven on for something else, I tossed them on pans and get them baking. We had some left overs and since they were still around after we came home - they also went to Vacation Bible School and the plate was clean quickly. There's something very satisfying when people ask me what I made and make sure to try it. It's a good feeling when people want to eat what you make. I can say for certain these were good too - just by the fact there were none left. Another win - for sure.

Marbled Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1–1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ½ cups plus ¼ cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1teaspoon baking soda
1–1/4 teaspoon salt
¼ cup cocoa powder
2 cups chocolate chips, divided

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together for 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrape sides of bowl and add eggs and extract. Mix on medium speed just to combine. Add 2 ½ cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir until combined into a wet sand, consistent mixture. At this point, divide the dough in half- a scale for accuracy really helps here. To one bowl, add the remaining ¼ cup of flour, stirring on low just until combined. To the other bowl, add the cocoa powder, stirring on low just until combined. Add 1 cup of chocolate chips to each bowl and fold to combine. Use a medium-sized cookie scoop to scoop 1-1/2 tablespoon-sized balls of each kind of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Next, combine a chocolate dough ball with a plain one. I like to split one of the dough balls in half and sandwich the remaining piece of dough in between. Marble the two together, repeating with the remaining dough balls. Cover the baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap. and place in the fridge to firm up, about 2 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet at least 2” apart and bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden and the cookie tops are nearly set, about 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool briefly before sharing.

Clean Plate Club

I'm pretty sure I made these cookies in the wrong season. Those caramel squares that are talked about in this recipe? No where to find in the summer, just saying. When you've committed to the recipe and standing in the grocery store you have to trust your gut and make a choice - choice was Rolos. These were for Vacation Bible School and made ahead and frozen as dough balls for easy baking later. Andy offered to help me put things together - he unwrapped and cut the Rolos into quarters. How many? We measured with our heart. Some went in the cookies and some on to. I did use some chocolate chip too. These froze and baked up beautifully. The caramel was a little melty on the parchment after baking but we did our best. These were a hit when served. They flew off the plate and zero leftovers. That's what I like to see! Clean plate club!

Turtle Cookies
Ingredients
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter, softened, 1/2 cup
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, regular or mini size
½ cup chopped caramel squares, use a knife to cut into small pieces
½ cup chopped pecans

Instructions
Cut the caramel squares into small pieces with a knife.
Combine the chocolate chips, chopped pecans, and caramel pieces in a bowl, mix. Reserve 1/2 cup for the outside of the cookie dough balls.
Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.
In a mixing bowl cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy, 1 minute. Add in the egg and vanilla, beat again. Add the flour mixture and the add ins (minus the 1/2 cup you’re reserving) to the wet mixture, mix with a spatula (or on low with a mixer) just until everything is combined
Use a cookie scoop to form dough balls. Press the 1/2 cup of add-ins on the outside of the dough balls. This is optional but I like the way the cookies look when you can see the chocolate chips, caramel puddles and pecans on top.
Place the cookies 3 inches apart on a silicone lined baking sheet and bake for 10-14 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.