Vegetarian Dippin Dogs

The Super Bowl game will air on Monday in Japan and even vegetarians like to have tail gate snackage and super bowl party food.  I thought this was a cool, easy, and fun way to make dippin dogs with the vegetarian links, paired with a jalapeno ketchup and mustard.  Plus the hot dogs are so tasty I doubt your meat eating friends will even care or know they're not beef or whatever mixture of animals are usually made with hotdogs.

We had to eat these dogs on Sunday (sat. stateside) because while the big game is going on Monday, we'll be on a ferry on our way to Sapporo to see the ice festival.  Can't wait to share some great pics from the ice festival and stuff myself with some delicious Japanese ramen. 

Vegetarian Dippin Dogs
Oishii Treat Original

Ingredients

1 Pkg pillsbury crescent rolls, 8 count
1 Pkg Smart Dogs
1 egg white






Directions

- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
- Open your package of crescent rolls and along the pre-made dotted line separate your triangles.
- Place 1 dog on the skinny corner of the dough and roll towards the wider end of the triangle

                    

- place on a greased or parchment paper lined cookie sheet and brush to tops with egg white and sprinkle with your favorite type of seasoning. I used garlic salt, red pepper flakes and italian seasoning

- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the crescent rolls are nice and golden brown.

Jalapeno Pepper Ketchup

Ingredients

1/3 cup ketchup
1-2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno, diced small
1 tablespoon of the juice from the jar of pickled jalapenos.

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Samoa Girl Scout Cupcakes

I've been dying to make these cupcakes since the girl scouts at Misawa Air Base started selling them a few weeks ago.  I already made my dulce de leche sauce for my carmel component and I have the best chocolate cake recipe for the cake portion.  

Many thanks to one of my friends and his wife for sharing his moms chocolate cake recipe.  Which is one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever baked, I received the blessing from him today in order to share it on my blog.  the way I came to have his moms recipe was his wife messaged me asking if I would make him a cake for his 23rd birthday since she wouldn't be able to be here in Japan to celebrate and I said of course I'll make him a cake.  So she sent me his moms recipe because its his favorite and we came up with the brillant idea of also incorporated cheesecake into the birthday cake since it was his other favorite flavor.  So I'll be sharing a chocolate cake cheesecake soon.  but for now lets just drool and savor these samoa girl scout cupcakes.  

Samoa Girl Scout Cupcakes
Oishii Treats original creation and
a friends family recipe adapted slightly.

Yields: 24-26 cupcakes

Ingredients for the Chocolate Cupcake

Sour Milk
1 cup Milk + 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 eggs

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and insert paper liners into your cupcake pans
- Make your sour milk: In a separate bowl add your milk and vinegar and set aside while you make the batter.
- In a large mixing bowl add flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix together with a whisk.
- In a small mixing bowl add your cocoa powder and boiling water and whisk until the cocoa powder is nice and smooth, let it cool down for about 6-8 minutes.
- add your cocoa mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk together, add the milk, oil and eggs and mix until fully incorporated.
- Fill your cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

*You can either used store bought carmel or dulce de leche or you can make your own the night before with this simple and easy recipe. Crockpot Dulce De Leche

Dulce De Leche filling 

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons dulce de leche
1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened might be best cause the dulce is sweet, but you can use sweetened coconut as well)

Directions

- Create a whole in the middle of your cupcake
- Combine the ingredients together in a small bowl and fill the cupcake wholes with the filling

Dulce De Leche Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup dulce de leche
4-6 tablespoons milk

Directions

- Whip the butter in a electric mixer until light and fluffy. 6-8 minutes on high speed
- add your powder sugar 1/4 cup at a time until fully incorporated
- add in the dulce de leche and 4 tablespoons milk and whip for 3-4 minutes. (add more milk to get your desired consistency)
- Top your cupcakes with buttercream, toasted coconut and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

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CrockPot Dulce De Leche

Wow where did the time go? I can't believe I've been MIA for 2 weeks. All I have to say work has been craZy this month.  With my paralegal duties, cub scouts and studying a girl barley has time to cook. Ooooh yeah, geez totally forgot, did I mentioned I caught a Japanese stomach virus 2 weeks ago as well, right about that time I had my terrible snow boarding trip. I guess that stomach bug I was coming down with wasn't just a normal 24 hour bug. After struggling for 3 days with terrible stomach pains, nausea, heart burn and acid reflux I finally went to the emergency room on base and 4 hours later I found out that there has been a epidemic in Japan concerning a stomach virus / infection and this lucky red head had caught it. Winner right here.  

So my prize for the last 2 weeks has been trying to get rid of this awful virus.  I'm still battling some acid reflux and heart burn but after changing my diet a little and watching how late I eat at night its been getting better. So now I can finally get back in the kitchen and start whipping up some delightful treats. 

 I want to share this super easy and can't stop eating it by the spoon Dulce De Leche.  I have many plans for this gooey, sticky, sweet sauce. My next post will be a samoa girl scout cookie inspired cupcake featuring dulce de leche. But for now its a good thing I made a couple of jars of this stuff, cause it's great in coffee, ice cream and for a healthier option you can dip sliced apples in it.

So just dig your cock pot out of the cupboard place your jars in it and let it cook overnight while your dreaming of all the delicious ways you can use dulce de leche....I know I did :)

CrockPot Dulce De Leche
Adapted From Buns in my Oven

Ingredients
2 (14oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
2 or 3 half pint canning jars or reuse the glass jars your condiments come in (I used a jelly jar and hummus glass jar that I washed and saved weeks ago)

Directions

- Pour your sweetened condensed milk into your glass jars and secure the lids tightly to the jars.
- Place the jars in your crock pot and add water.  The water should rise at least 1 inch above your jars.

- Place the lid on the crock pot and set on low heat.
- Cook for 10-12 hours the longer you cook the sauce the darker in color it will get.
- Remove the jars from the water and let cool to room temp, they can be stored in the refrigerator up to 3 to 4 weeks (if they last that long)

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French Toast Cupcakes w/ Maple Buttercream

   So I went on my first snowboarding trip in Japan and probably my last.  Snowboarding is just not meant for me, I'am a firm believer that its just one of those sports you need to start as a kid, where a couple of falls on your butt won't jack up your already bad back and leave bruises from head to toe.  

Oh did I mention that I also fell off the ski lift :/  I was so afraid of the lifts to begin with because they don't stop for you, they just scoop you up and you pray your in the right position when it arrives. So as it happened yesterday I wasn't in the right positon and that lift just knocked me off with no sympathy, I felt like I was punched in the hip by a sumo wrestler. 

I guess this really is my fault,  I should have known what to expect when I had my first true experience snow boarding in Alaska 4 years ago and ended up with a minor concussion, I should have known my second chance snow boarding in Japan wouldn't be any different.  It took about 2 hours to get down the mountain and I hurt my back so bad and was starting to come down with a stomach bug that I decided to throw in the towel and take a nap on a small love seat in a hotel lounge while the rest of the people on the trip were still snowboarding and the hubby went to the onsen. Oh well

After a day of being beaten up and feeling my age I decided that I owed my self a treat and made my favorite breakfast in a cupcake form.  These babies will not disappoint they literally taste like french toast with a delicious maple buttercream.  

French Toast Cupcakes
Adapted from Bakingdom
Yields: 24-28 cupcakes


For the Streusel 
Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, sliced into chunks

Cupcake

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions for Streusel

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients and add in the cold butter using your hands to mix and squeeze the mixture together crumbling it up.  once complete cover and place in the freezer until ready to top on the batter.

Directions for the Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake tins with paper liners; set aside.
In your electric mixer bowl add your flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and whisk on low speed until mixed together.  Add in your butter, sour cream  eggs and vanilla, mix well until combined and smooth about 30-45 seconds.
Place 3 tablespoons of batter into each baking cup. and divide the streusel evenly among the cupcakes and top about 1 spoonful of streusel on top of each baking cup. Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Before they're baked

Before they're baked

After they're baked

Maple Buttercream

Ingredients

1 cup butter unsalted at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup maple syrup (your favorite kind, I used Mrs. Butterworth)
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

In a electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed until light and fluffy, (this could take a little time about 8 to 10 minutes).

This is what the butter should look like, almost looks like fluff or whipped cream

Beat in the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until all the powdered sugar has been incorporated

Add the vanilla, salt and syrup and mix until combined. Beat in the heavy cream and whisk on high for 4 minutes.

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Gingerbread Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

The hubby requested pancakes for christmas breakfast and I wanted to find something different then your basic pancake.  I happen to stubble upon a recipe for cinnamon roll pancakes which led me to another recipe for gingerbread cinnamon roll pancakes and it being x-mas and all I had to go with the gingerbread.... of course :) 

These pancakes were awesome, they not only tasted delicious but when you flip the pancake over to cook the swirl side and flip it back, it looks just like a cinnamon roll on top. The only thing is, I wish I could have shared these yummy pancakes with my family for christmas.  Though I can be happy that at least me and my husband can spend the holidays together instead of being deployed this year. I adapted this recipe a little since I didn't have all the ingredients it called for, and they still turned out superb!  and looked pretty cool too. 

Gingerbread Cinnamon Roll Pancakes 
Adapted from Recipe Girl
Yields: 6-8 pancakes
Prep: 15 minutes  Cook: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Cinnamon filling

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Pancake

3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
2 tablespoons dark mollasses
2 tablespoons water
1 large egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
1/2 tablespoons ground baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Prepare the cinnamon filling before you make the pancakes.
- In a small bowl melt the butter in the microwave, takes about 20 - 40 seconds.
- Mix in the brown sugar and spices with a whisk, make sure that the mixture is combined well and not lumpy.
- Scoop the mixture into a small ziplock baggy and set aside (while your making the pancake batter the mixture will cool and thicken up a little)

Prepare the batter

- In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, coffee, molasses, water and egg.
- In a small bowl combine all the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Add your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix till just combined. (don't over mix its okay if they are some lumps in the batter)

Cooking the pancakes

- Set your oven to warm or 200 degrees and add a pan into the oven, use this as a warmer tray for placing your cooked pancakes in, to keep warm while finishing the entire batter.
- Preheat a large skillet on medium heat and spray the pan with cooking spray
- Scoop a 1/3 measuring cup of batter into the skillet and spread it around a little to make a round shape
 - Take your zip lock baggy and cut a small hole in the corner and pipe a swirl onto your pancake.
- Cook the pancake for about 3 minutes until you start seeing bubbles on the side of the pancake, flip the pancake over and cook the swirl side for about 2 minutes, dont worry if you see some of the swirl mixture oozing out from under the pancake.
- Flip the pancake over to expose the swirl side and serve with syrup or they are great by themselves as well.  Enjoy.

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