As you might imagine, I am a very organized person. My kitchen is one of the most organized rooms in my home and I am going to share some of my tips with you today. Having a system helps me immensely, and I think it will help you too. When I entertain, everything has to be in its place during preparation. This cuts my prep time in half, and lets me get to other things like decorating the table or doing a little bit of cleaning in the rooms I am going to be using. The French call this “mise en place,” literally WHATEVER, but I have to call call it SOMETHING.
So, here are a few tips when prepping your food:
Gather the bowls, tools, and machines (i.e. Kitchen Aid, blender, hand mixer) and always have a trash can near you when you are cooking. You can also set up a bowl on the counter for scraps for composting.
Looking good makes you feel good, but not in the kitchen. It’s best not to wear your favorite clothing, since spills happen, and I recommend an apron too.
Wear gloves when prepping. This will prevent your hands from smelling like garlic or onions. It will also prevent the oil from hot peppers or chilies from getting on your hands and maybe your eyes or mouth. Reusable gloves are great for this!
Indulge in one very good knife. You will be surprised how much it cuts down your prep time (pun very much intended!).
After chopping food, use the dull side of the knife to scrape up the contents. Knives should be sharpened regularly, but this will help keep them that way.
Read the recipe first. All the way through. This will give you a better understanding of the tools you will need as well as catch important instructions such as “reserve 1 cup of pasta water.” How many times do we forget to do that?
Cut a lemon into four wedges when you need to squeeze them for their juice. The smaller wedges make it so much easier to squeeze.
Dry all foods with towels, meat, poultry, and veggies. Water makes them steam and they will not brown properly. For meat and poultry, paper towels are best, but for veggies, a clean kitchen towel works great.
Taste, taste, taste! You need to make sure all the seasonings in your food taste exactly the way you want it to.
Keep things simple! Now go get yourself a nice glass of wine, you earned it!
I could go on and on and on, but I will stop here and leave the rest for another day. I hope you try these tips, they will really make a big difference in your cooking.
This is a really easy recipe if you want to keep it simple. There are five ingredients in it and it takes no time to whip up. The thing that will take the most time is waiting for the layers to freeze, so be sure to leave that time, otherwise the dessert will not set and the layers will run together. I also keep it refrigerated so it holds its shape. If you are a dark chocolate lover, feel free to use that instead, I just happen to be more of a fan of milk chocolate. If you really want to get fancy, find a recipe for chocolate ganache and put that on top. Wouldn’t that be decadent?
How could you not love millionaire shortbread? A layer of shortbread that serves as the vehicle to hold some chewy caramel (that’s already yummy), and covered with a blanket of chocolate. Topped off with a sprinkle of sea salt and you are in heaven. One bite and you are hooked. It’s a rich dessert (hence the name), so I cut the big squares into smaller ones. This is one dessert that ain’t called Millionaires for nothing!
This recipe is my own and will make 28 pieces that are sure to surprise and delight your guests.
Ingredients for Millionaire Shortbread:
For the Shortbread:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the caramel:
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
For the chocolate layer:
2 cups milk chocolate chocolate chips
Sea Salt for garnish
Preheat oven to 300°.
Line a 13″-x-9″ pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
Make shortbread layer:
Cream softened butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
Add flour and vanilla and mix until a bread crumb texture forms.
Press mixture into a prepared pan and prick all over with a fork.
Bake until lightly golden, 30 minutes.
Let cool completely.
Make the Caramel Sauce:
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over low heat, whisking constantly or until thickened and no longer watery (6-9 minutes).
Remember, it thickens more as it cools.
Pour over cooled shortbread and place in the freezer for to 8 hours or overnight.
Make the Chocolate:
Place a small pot filled halfway with water on medium-high heat.
Bring to a boil.
Place chocolate in a double boiler and heat until chocolate is fully melted.
Take shortbread out of freezer.
Make sure the caramel is frozen.
Pour the melted chocolate over the caramel layer.
Place in freezer for 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
Take shortbread out of freezer and let it come to room temperature.
Slice into bars.
Slice bars into quarters.
Top with sea salt.
It’s that simple!
