Busy day in the kitchen with Cook's Illustrated

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 Just so I don’t forget.

This all started with the latest edition of the Cooks Illustrated magazine.

It’s a new format and seems to have a new focus.  I found myself wanting to prepare a lot of the recipes but I did not have all the ingredients required so I shopped first.

Today I stared with Guinness Chocolate Cake. I ended up making two so I could use the entire can of Guinness!  One will go in the freezer for a birthday.

It was pretty dense.  The thick layer of good cream cheese frosting helped.  

Then I made a small batch of cookies- one bowl, one pan, 12 decent-sized Coffee Toffee cookies! ( Arie really likes them but I am not a fan -  not enough coffee). 

Then on to the sauces and dip for oven-fried chicken wings. ( I was going to make these for Saturday night but I have since discovered that my DIL and grandson only eat the nuggets and my dear son gave me a long argument about fried versus oven-fried chicken. He says oven fried wings are not good… they will get pizza instead )

I then started on dip and sauces. The first was a herby ranch dip made with fresh herbs and spices which is great and it will be made again. The fresh herbs make it so much better than bottled.  It’s so good.  The sauces, chimichurri and lemon pepper, were quite complicated and time consuming to make and are very tasty.. unfortunately, Arie prefers his wings naked. I will make them again for a summer party?

I also cut up a beautiful box of fresh strawberries!

My chicken wings were whole wings with two sections plus tips.  The tips are simmering for soup or chicken broth!

The wings went into the oven with a coating of baking powder, salt, pepper and garlic powder. 

Into a 425° oven for 55 minutes. They turned out incredibly delicious and crispy!  I think I also like them naked with the herby ranch dip!

It was a busy day in the kitchen I did lots of dishes but now the very full dishwasher is taking care of the rest!

We ate oven fried chicken wings for dinner.  We tried the dip and the sauces.  

Final verdict:  the wings were perfectly baked and wonderfully crispy but just a bit too salty.  The dip had mixed reviews - I loved it and Arie said there was too much dill.  We’ll see how it keeps. The sauces were fine and we both like them but we both prefer naked wings  Maybe they can be frozen to keep for another day!

Tomorrow the cakes will be frosted.    I might also make a sweet chili dip. 

On Saturday I will be making a spicy ramen salad to serve with the pizza! I also bought the ingredients for Crispy, Creamy Crab Rangoon.  Sounds like a good appetizer, right?

I have subscribed to Cook’s Illustrated for years.  My goal with each issue has been to try and make at least one dish from each issue but that doesn’t always happen.  This month, I was inspired and after all is said and done I will have made  8 maybe 9 recipes  (depending how you count - is a frosted cake one or two recipes)!  

I hope the magazine will continue with the format and focus!

Chicken wings minus the oil!

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