What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?

I arrived home from Indiana safe and sound Saturday night around 11:30.  Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.  As you can imagine, there was no cooking in my kitchen yesterday afternoon.  My sweet husband insisted we go out.  I didn’t argue! 

However, I have a great recipe that I made last week to share with you today.  It would be a great recipe to serve on Sunday night after church while having friends over!  The key to having guests over is doing prep work ahead of time.  That’s what I love about this recipe for Easy Pizza Dough.  You can make up these individual pizza crusts, par bake them, then pop them in the freezer.   I found this in Southern Living years ago, and it’s been one of two recipes I always use for homemade pizza.  These make a yummy thin crusted pizza. 

The dough mixes up super fast in a food processor.  However, if you don’t own one, you could do it in a mixer or stir it up by hand.

Easy Pizza Dough – Makes 6 (8″) pizzas

1 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 (1/4-oz.) envelope active dry yeast
2 teaspoons honey
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Vegetable cooking spray

Preparation

1. Process first 4 ingredients in a food processor 20 seconds or until yeast is dissolved and mixture is bubbly. Add flour and salt; pulse 6 to 8 times or until dough forms a ball and leaves sides of bowl, adding more water if necessary.
2. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray; lightly coat dough with cooking spray. Cover and chill at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

Dough after being in the fridge 2 hours.

3. Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 6 equal portions; roll each portion into an 8-inch round. Use dough immediately, or follow instructions below to make ahead.
Note: Place Easy Pizza Dough rounds on 2 lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 400° for 7 minutes. Let cool 20 minutes. Place in zip-top plastic freezer bags; freeze up to 3 months. Let pizza crusts stand at room temperature 20 minutes before adding toppings.

Getting ready to pre-bake

Pre-baked crust

Crusts pre-baked and ready for the freezer

To bake:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spread about 1/3 cup basic pizza sauce over each pizza crust; top each pizza with 1/2 cup cheese, 1/3 cup cooked sausage, pepperoni, and/or other desired toppings.
Bake 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden and cheese is melted.

Now, if you need a little individual serving of a yummy dessert for a Monday, here you go:
Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Cup from Number 2 Pencil.  I made this recently.  First I made a trial cup.  I let my resident taste tester sample it (my husband!).  He gave it a double thumbs up!  It only needs a little scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.  Beware!  Once you read this recipe, you will know that you can have a chocolate chip dessert in literally less than 5 minutes!  You have been warned!

1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon Granulated White Sugar
1 Tablespoon of firmly packed Dark Brown Sugar
3 Drops of Vanilla Extract
Small Pinch of Kosher Salt
1 Egg Yolk (discard the egg white or save for different recipe)
Scant ¼ of All Purpose Flour (slightly less than ¼ of a cup)
2 heaping tablespoons of Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Instructions
Start by melting your butter in the microwave. Butter should just be melted, not boiling.
Add sugars, vanilla and salt. Stir to combine.
Separate your egg and add the yolk only to your cup. Stir to combine.
Add flour, then stir again. Measure a scant, slightly less than full, ¼ cup of all-purpose flour.
Add the chocolate chips, and give a final stir. Now your mixture will look like cookie dough.
Cook in microwave 40-60 seconds, start checking for doneness at 40 seconds. Mine takes 50 seconds. Do not cook past one minute, just like a regular cookie, this will continue cooking as it cools. If the cookie is dry or cake like, try less time.
Serve warm.

Do these recipes look like something you’ll try?  I hope so!  They’re both easy, delicious, and fast!  What’s been cooking in your kitchen?

With love from my parsonage kitchen,