Orange Raisin Cookies

This is from that apparently amazing dessert place in NYC, Serendipity. (spiao-ling corright? i donch know.)

Makes 3 dozen at least. Usually more. And more is great.

Unsalted butter for the pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup golden raisins
3 tablespoons grated orange zest (from 2-3 medium oranges)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a cookie sheet/tray.
2. Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the eggs and vanilla.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix until just blended.
5. Stir in raisins and orange zest.
6. Drop by the tablespoonful onto the sheet/tray, 1 inch apart, and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Cool on a rack. Store in airtight container. EAT.

"Cone" Muffin-Tops

Adapted from Basic Corn Muffins

We made these yummy cone muffins to compliment the Cayenne West Chili.  Luckily, it only takes about 15 minutes in the oven because I completely forgot about making muffins until I was finished making the chili. It's a good thing they're easy to make and Michelle was nice enough to help me make them! If you double the recipe and find yourself with excess, lightly toast a muffin and have it with butter and honey, or even jam. Nomnoms!

According to the All Recipes serving size, you should be able to feed 12, but our batch only produced about 9 muffins, possibly less.

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil (we used vegetable)
1 cup milk

Cayenne West Chili

Adapted from: Chili con Carne III and Flatlander Chili

You might notice that there is no chili powder listed in the ingredients. The reason? We didn't have any in our house :) So, I decided to load it up with Cayenne powder, cumin, and garlic powder in an attempt to make it more chili-like. I forget exactly how much chili powder I added, but know that any more than 3 teaspoons would kill the average-to-low spice tolerant diner. You can't really mess this up since you just anyhowly throw things into the pot and wait for it to reduce to a nice chili-consistency. Enjoy!

Serving size: A lot. 10 maybe?

1 tsp oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 gloves garlic, minced
2 pounds lean ground beef

1 (46 fl oz.) can tomato juice
1 (29 oz.) jar tomato sauce
1 tsp tomato paste
1/4 cup corn meal (optional)
1 green bell pepper chopped

>3 tsp cayenne pepper (anyhowly)
3 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt (optional)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp white sugar
1 (15 oz.) black beans
1 (15 oz.) red beans
ground pepper to taste