Amazing Muffin Cups

I was thrilled to find this delicious looking breakfast muffin cup recipe from the kitchens of Johnsonville, my favorite breakfast sausage.

These muffin cups would be awesome for a breakfast or brunch buffet or a quick breakfast to take with you on a busy morning.

Love all the ingredients and would not change a thing!  

Wouldn't it be great to have some of these in the freezer, ready for the microwave for a super quick and delicious breakfast?  Sounds like something I am going to try to have on hand for those busy mornings.  

Breakfast is my favorite meal and I'm sure this will be one of my favorite go-to recipes!

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups Ore-Ida® Country Style Hash Browns, thawed
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 12 links JOHNSONVILLE® Original Breakfast Sausage
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups Shredded 4-Cheese Mexican blend cheese
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
• fresh chives or green onions, chopped

DIRECTIONS

In a bowl, combine the hash browns, butter, salt and pepper.

Press mixture onto the bottom and up the sides of greased muffin cups.

Bake at 400°F for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Meanwhile, cook sausage according to package directions; cut into ½-inch pieces.

Divide sausage among muffin cups.

Combine the eggs, cheese and bell pepper. Spoon over sausage. Sprinkle with chives.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until set and an internal temperature of 165˚F is reached.

Chocolate Lava Pie

When I saw this pie on The Chew the other day, I have had a craving for it that is unbelievable!  

It is a program I don't often watch out of protest for taking the place of my beloved soap opera All My Children cancelled by ABC, but I happened to be at my mom's house and she watches it religiously.  This pie may have broken the ice for me . . .

The pie reminds me of one of my all time favorite pound cakes that I will have to dig through my personal collection of recipes to find . . . it is called Tunnel of Fudge Cake.  It is part brownie, part pound cake with a fudgy center. Different type of texture than this pie, but the concept is very similar.  I promise to share the pound cake recipe soon!

The only thing missing in that photo is a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Recipes for pie crust and salted caramel sauce listed separately.

ingredients

• 1 disc of Perfect Pie Crust
• 12 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate
• 1 cup Butter
• 5 large Eggs (room temperature)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 cup Flour
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 cup Semi- Sweet Chocolate Chunks
• 1/2 cup Chopped Nuts (pecans & walnuts; toasted)
• Salted Caramel Sauce (to drizzle)

directions

Preheat oven 350°F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8" thickness. Place inside a pie dish and line with parchment and baking beans or weights. Blind bake for 8 minutes. Carefully remove parchment and beans and bake for 4 additional minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool.

In a small, heavy bottomed saucepan, melt Chocolate and Butter over low heat. Let Chocolate mixture cool. (Alternatively, Chocolate and Butter may be melted in the microwave. Be careful not to overheat and burn it.)

Using a mixer, whisk Eggs and Sugar until thickened and lemon-colored; blend in Vanilla. Sift Flour and Salt together and fold in; blend in the Chocolate mixture on low speed until thoroughly blended. Fold in the Chocolate chunks.

Pour into the pie crust and bake for 20-25 minutes or until slightly dry on top and slightly jiggly in the center.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Garnish with toasted nuts and a drizzle of Salted Caramel Sauce (click for recipe) to serve.




Helpful Tips:

1. Blind bake the crust. Blind baking is baking the crust once without the filling. Use wax paper with beans on top to keep the crust from bubbling.

2. Whisk the chocolate together until the butter is fully incorporated.

3. Let the pie rest for 10 minutes and then serve. If making this pie ahead of time, re-warm in the oven or microwave.

Salted Caramel Recipe

Salted Caramel is great sauce for so many things!  

My favorite is popcorn or ice cream :)

This recipe for Salted Caramel is courtesy of Carla Hall, The Chew.

ingredients

• 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• 6 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt

Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan. As soon as the sugar begins to melt, stir vigorously with a whisk or wooden spoon. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring.

As soon as the sugar crystals have melted (and the sugar is dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted, then remove from heat.

Slowly add the sour cream and continue to whisk to incorporate. Add the salt. Whisk until the caramel is smooth. Let cool in pan for a couple of minutes before pouring it into a mason jar. Let cool to room temperature. Store in fridge for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.

Do you really think it would last 2 weeks?

Perfect Pie Crust

Doesn't everyone need a great pie crust recipe?

This recipe is courtesy of Carla Hall, The Chew!

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Table Salt
• 1/3 cup Water
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold Unsalted Butter (cut into 1/2-inch dice)
• 2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Flour (plus more for rolling)

directions

In a small bowl, dissolve the sugar and salt in the water. Refrigerate until very cold, about 30 minutes. During that time, refrigerate your butter, flour, mixer bowl, and paddle, too.

Make sure your butter is cut into 1/2-inch dice. Bigger pieces will make your dough puffy. In the chilled bowl, combine the cold butter and flour. With your hands, toss the butter in the flour until each cube is lightly coated.

With the chilled paddle, beat the flour-butter mixture on low speed to just break up the butter, about 30 seconds. Add the water mixture all at once and raise the speed to medium-low. Beat just until the dough comes together in big chunks, then immediately turn off the mixer.

Divide the chunks of dough in half and very gently pat each group into a round 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour, before rolling. You can refrigerate the disks for up to 1 day or freeze for up to 3 months.



Helpful Tips:

1. Make sure that all the ingredients are cold.

2. Mix with your fingertips, not your palms. Fingertips are cool, while your palms are hot.

3. When mixing the flour and butter, pick up some of the flour and butter, squeeze it, and drop it.

4. Make discs with the dough -- rather than a ball -- so that it is easier to flatten.