Sunday February 14th, 2010
Garlic White Pizza, Chocolate Sugar Cookies
The Perfect Valentine's Day!
We have been a bit Valentine's Day challenged in our past. A couple of highlights include.. the first Valentine's Day of our marriage. JJ had the stomach flu. He came home from school, handed me a rose and a candy bar he had managed to drag himself to get, threw up in the bathroom and went to bed. I felt rather pathetic as I got dinner that night in the Mcdonald's drive thru-- I was pregnant and going through my french fry craving phase. Our second Valentine's Day, Isabel was a baby, but our friend's were kind and watched her for us because they were going out when they visited family that weekend. We were so excited to go on a date alone. Alone, in Provo, Ha! We hadn't actually gone to a resturaunt on Valentine's day for years and that night we realized why. Provo, the dating capitol of the world, is the worst city for dinner on Valentine's day. We went to several resturaunts with wait times of an hour or more. We had other things planned and time was not a luxury. We ended up eating at a burger joint that had recently opened. Tasty for Burgers, but not the most romantic atmosphere.
Not all have been that bad, through the years we have had good ones, but honestly, any "romantic" holiday that has that much pressure, is just asking for trouble. But this day was perfect. I got up early and put little Valentines in the kid's mailboxes, and as tradition dictates--made heart shaped waffles with my little heart shaped waffle maker. It was funny, as I bounded upstairs to wake the boys for breakfast (the girls were already up of course) JJ and Jordan behaved exactly the same. I went back and forth from each room nudging them to get up, they both moaned and stirred restlessly like teenagers as they tried to squeeze out those last moments of sleep. They did eventually wake up and we had a lovely breakfast together. JJ wrote me the sweetest card and gave me a hiking book of family hikes within 60 miles of phoenix. Hiking is a favored past time, and I had been wanting a book of good trails. After breakfast we decided to try one out-- hence the silver lining in 1 o'clock church. We went over to the Estrella Mountain Reserve and followed a trail for a while. The kids had fun exploring and we enjoyed walking and talking with them. They are such little joys in my life. We raced back to get ready for church in about 20 minutes. Afterwards we began our special dinner. It had to be festive, so we did heart shaped Pizza and Chocolate Sugar cookies. That night we snuggle up and watched "Amelia" with the kids and ate our cookies! It was the perfect end to a perfect day. Though nothing we did was extravegant or momentous, it was the little expressions of love through out the day and the chance to spend time with my favorite people on earth, that made it so special. Which I guess is what Valentine's Day is all about.
What a sweetie!
You too missies!
Wrapping the dough to chill
JJ cooks the Garlic Sauce for the pizza
While Jordan is my right hand man for the pizza dough.
Pizza of Love!
After I took a picture of our master piece, JJ promptly cut the pizza jaggedly down the middle and said in a mockingly sad tone "oh no, it's a broken heart." To which the girls were immediately shouting "aah dad."
What is it with men and the pleasure of destruction? It's the same driving force that prompted my brother to torment me by dramatically stabbing my doll cake (the one's with the barbie head and the dress is the cake) right before we cut it at my birthday parties. There is only one explanation...
Testosterone!
Happy Valentine's Day little Cuties!
Garlic Pizza with White Sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs butter
3 Tbs flour
1 cup milk
4 slices bacon ( we didn't have bacon so we substituted cooked chicken)
10 ounces fresh chopped spinach
2 onions, sliced
1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup grated Parmesan
Divide dough into 2 halves. Roll or pat it into a 12" circle ( and then crimp it with your thumb and forefinger to make a lip around the edge. (or heart shape :) )
Garlic Sauce: This is basically a white sauce with garlic: Saute a few cloves minced garlic in 1 Tbs of butter. Add 3 Tbs of flour and cook for a few minutes, while stirring. Slowly add 1 cup of milk, whisking together so it's not lumpy. Bring to a simmer and cook 5 minutes, stirring almost constantly.
The toppings could be anything you like of course. One option is spinach, bacon, and caramelized onions with Parmesan cheese on top. Cook up a few slices of bacon, then chop or crumble it up and set aside. Leave just a tablespoon of the drippings in the pan and cook 10 ounces fresh chopped spinach for a few minutes, until wilted. Put the spinach in a colander and squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Put two sliced onions in the same pan and sprinkle with a spoonful of sugar. Cook slowly until browned, about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, grate 1 cup Parmesan cheese, about 1 cup total.
Take your pizza crust and spread the garlic sauce on it. Add Cheese. Add the onions and spinach and bake at 410 for 15-20 minutes. (we cooked it on parchment paper, so the bottom wouldn't get tough.)
Review: Everyone really enjoyed eating the pizza as much as JJ did cutting it. It was nice having something different than a tomato based sauce. The chicken tasted good as a substitute and I would probably use it the next time as well. It's a keeper.
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups (355 grams) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (75 grams) unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon (4 grams) baking powder
1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions:
For Chocolate Sugar Cookies: In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder.
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.
Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. ( I just cooked them on my airbake pan)
Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.) Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking. --Oops I just realized reading this, I didn't do that. Oh well they still looked like hearts, but that explains why mine didn't turn out as perfect looking as their picture. Good Idea. I guess I should read the whole recipe next time... And I get after Isabel for not paying attention--hah!
Note: If you are not going to frost the baked cookies, you may want to sprinkle the unbaked cookies with crystal or sparkling sugar.
Bake cookies for about 10 minutes (depending on size) or until they are firm around the edges. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Frost with royal icing, if desired. Be sure that the frosting on the cookies dries completely before storing. (This may take several hours.) Frosted cookies will keep several days in an airtight container. Store between layers of parchment paper or wax paper-- I didn't do this either and they stuck together) oops
Frosting: -- I didn't use the Royal Icing One they recommend but here is their recipe (I think this is a firmer frosting, but I'm more of a taste over asthetics kind of girl)
Royal Icing:
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups (330 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
I used a Cream Cheese frosting:
1/4 cup butter
3 oz. cream cheese
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
( I added 1 tsp. peppermint extract to make it minty :) )
Review
These turned out really great! Sugar cookies have never been a favorite of mine. Any cookie where sugar is their greatest asset, comes up lacking in my book. Add chocolate into the mix however, and it's a game changer-- now there is a cookie worth it's weight in calories. These are definitely in that category.
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