Roasted Garlic

There is basically no reason NOT to roast garlic. It's cheap. It's easy. And it tastes amazing. 

I literally put two heads of roasted garlic on one pizza last night. It would taste great mixed in a dip. Or spread on crackers.

Or smeared on garlic bread. 

Or you know... put in everything.

Did I mention it was really easy to make? Just peel as much of the papery covering off the garlic as possible. 

Cut the top off the head of garlic, about 1/4-1/2 inch so each clove will be exposed to the olive oil. Enclose the garlic in a tinfoil cocoon so that no heat or oil can escape.  

Bake for about 30 minutes. 

Once the garlic has slightly cooled just squeeze each clove out of the paper. They literally just pop right out.  

Roasted Garlic

Ingredients:

1 head of garlic

1-2 tsp of olive oil

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

Remove the papery outer layer off the garlic. Cut the tops of the cloves off about 1/4 inch so each clove is exposed. Place the garlic on a square of tin foil. Drizzle the oil over the tops of the cloves spreading it around so each clove is completely covered. Fold the top of the foil over the garlic and place in the oven (either directly on the rack, or I use a cake pan.) 

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the garlic is soft and lightly browned. Remove from oven and serve. 

Your house will smell all delicious and wonderful. 

Roasted Garlic and Chicken Pizza

Everything about this pizza is my favorite.


Thing #1: It has cheese. A lot of cheese. If you know me at all, you know I have a serious thing for cheese. When I was a kid I used to take handfuls of cheese, melt it on a plate in the microwave, and eat it with a fork.

Extreme cheese love.


Thing #2: It has garlic. Ask the man in my house... I "garlicify" EVERYTHING. I'm one of those people that would rather have something garlicky for breakfast over pancakes. Or french toast.

I probably smell great all the time.


Thing #3: Well it has a bunch of other good stuff too. Like chicken. And homemade dough. And cheese.

Okay, so now that we've established this is my perfect pizza I should probably tell you how to make it. I'm proud to say that this particular recipe is completely my own creation...aside from the fact that there are probably a million other garlic and chicken pizza recipes... I didn't read those. I made this one up.


The star ingredient on this pizza is the roasted garlic. If you've never had it before, it's not as potent as fresh garlic... so you have an excuse to use a lot of it.

ROAST YOUR GARLIC. It is amazing. And super easy.


Ok I guess I lied. I didn't make up the dough. I totally use the recipe off the back of the yeast packet, but I swear it's the best. I like to let the dough rise even though it isn't required. The garlic roasts for 30 minutes anyway, so you have time.

I make a quick white sauce with cream cheese, parmesan, and italian seasoning. This sauce really is customizable. Honestly the inspiration behind the sauce is Philadelphia Cooking Creme. I saw a recipe online one day that called for the cooking creme, but I didn't have any and had no intentions of driving all the way into town for it. So I made my own. I won't claim its as easy as the creme, but its tasty. Thats the whole point anyway.

Layer everything on your incredible homemade dough. Top with tons of cheese. Bake.

And no that is not too much garlic.



Roasted Garlic and Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 3/4 - 2 1/4 cups flour
1 envelope Fleischmann's Pizza Yeast
1 1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup warm water
3 tbsp olive oil
Sauce:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
4 oz cream cheese
2 cups of milk
1/3 cup shredded parmesan
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp oregano
(you can use 1-2 tsp italian seasoning in place of previous 4 ingredients)
salt and pepper to taste
Toppings:
1-2 heads of roasted garlic, cut into small chunks
1/2 onion, sliced
2 chicken breasts, cubed and cooked
2 cups mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

For the dough: Combine 1 cup of flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil and mix until well blended. Gradually add the remaining flour until a soft dough ball is formed. The dough will be slightly sticky. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Allow dough to rise in a covered bowl for 1/2 - 1 hour.

For the sauce: Melt the butter in a sauce pan and the whisk in the flour until well combined. Slowly add the milk stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Add cream cheese and parmesan and stir until melted. Add the remaining seasonings. Watch the consistency of the sauce and add more milk as desired. Depending on the heat of my stove and the consistency of the cheese, I sometimes add a little more milk so it's not too thick.

Spread your dough onto a cookie sheet or pizza stone. Top with sauce, garlic, chicken, onions, and cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is browned.


No one has ever not liked this.

Custard Filled Eclairs

I've always enjoyed custard filled eclairs. Especially those frozen mini ones you find in the dessert section. Seriously yum.


Although I'd never really even considered making my own. Pastries and donuts and really any dessert that isn't cheesecake or cookies was totally out my league. But then one day my husband (oh so lovingly) said, "How come you've never made me custard filled eclairs? They're my favorite!"

Ok. You win husband.

Turns out these aren't even scary! I know I keep saying "Seriously it's so easy!" with everything I post. But seriously. It's so easy. AND how often do you show up to a party and someone brings custard filled eclairs? Basically never.


When I made these I hadn't planned on posting them in a blog, so my pictures are sparse. But its pretty basic stuff.
Custard. Pastry. Ganache.
Bake. Fill. Frost. Eat.

Custard Filled Eclairs

Ingredients:
Choux Pastry:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs
Custard Filling:
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
Ganache:
1 cup semisweet baking chocolate (or chocolate chips)
6 tbsp heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet and set aside.

Combine butter and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to melt butter. Reduce heat to low and stir in flour and salt with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to form a stiff ball of dough.

Immediately remove from heat and add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition to ensure they are incorporated. I created a bowl shape in the dough to drop the egg in and mixed quickly, especially with the first one, to prevent it from cooking into scrambled eggs on the bottom of my warm pan.

With a pastry bag fitted with a large tip (or cut the corner off a plastic baggie), pipe the thick dough onto prepared cookie sheet into 10 strips approximately 1 1/2 x 4″ each.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 and bake another 20 minutes, until puffed and golden and hollow sounding when lightly tapped on the bottom. When removed from oven, IMMEDIATELY pierce the ends almost through to the other side to let steam escape and prevent any sogginess in the middle. This hole is also where you will be piping your filling into. Let cool completely before filling and icing (this will only take about half an hour).

Meanwhile, combine pudding and milk in a bowl and mix according to package directions. In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Fold whipped cream into pudding.

Scoop the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a smallish tip (I enlarged my steam holes a bit to make my tip fit, so do whatever works) and pipe mixture into centers of eclairs until full. It's kind of messy, but I found if you let the custard chill in the fridge before filling the eclairs and then place them in the fridge when they are done they will set up nicely.

Finally for the ganache, heat 1/2 cup of chocolate and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream in the microwave for 20 seconds. Stir until completely melted. With a spoon spread the ganache on each eclair. Repeat with the remaining ganache ingredients if necessary. Store the eclairs in the fridge.

Recipe adapted from: Hidden Ponies


Show up to a party with these. You'll win.