Gina's World Famous Cookie Cake

Cookie Cake:

1.5 cup (3 sticks) butter, softened
1.25  c. sugar
1.25 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
4.25  c. flour
1 full bag chocolate chips (plus 1 extra cup if desired)

Bake in greased 9x13 pan for 32 minutes.  It will still be very soft in the middle -- it will harden.  Don't overcook or the edges will be too hard to enjoy.


Frosting:

1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
4 Tbls. milk
4 cups powdered sugar

Beat together for 5 minutes.  Spread atop cookie cake.  

Beer Beef Sliders on Hawaiian Rolls

Ingredients
3-pound beef chuck roast
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
4 garlic cloves
1 red onion, sliced
1 cup Italian dressing
1 cup beer (use your favorite!)
2 bay leaves
Hawaiian slider buns
Sliced colby jack cheese

Directions
1. Place the chuck roast into a 6-quart or larger slow cooker. Sprinkle the roast with the salt and pepper. Place the garlic cloves on top of the roast. Add the red onion, then pour in the Italian dressing and beer. Place the bay leaves on top.

2. Cover and cook on high for 6 hours or on low for 8 to 10. Don’t open the lid during the cooking time.

3. Discard bay leaves and shred the meat with two forks. Smash the garlic with the back of a fork, and stir the garlic into the shredded meat. Discard any fat, and drain off the grease. Serve the shredded meat on Hawaiian slider buns with the colby jack cheese. Melt the cheese under the broiler in the oven if desired. Enjoy!

Instant Pot: Honey Sesame Chicken

PRESSURE COOKER HONEY SESAME CHICKEN

yield: 6 SERVINGS

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced (about 2 lbs.)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1/2 cup honey*
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 green onions, chopped
• Sesame seeds, toasted

DIRECTIONS:

Salt and pepper chicken. Preheat pressure cooking pot using the saute setting. Add oil, onion, garlic, and chicken to the pot and saute stirring occasionally until onion is softened, about 3 minutes.

Add soy sauce, ketchup, and red pepper flakes to the pressure cooking pot and stir to combine. Pressure cook on high for 3 minutes. When timer beeps, turn pressure cooker off and do a quick pressure release.

Add sesame oil and honey to the pot and stir to combine. In a small bowl, dissolve cornstarch in water and add to the pot. Select Saute and simmer until sauce thickens. Stir in green onions.

Serve over rice sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Sugar Cookies

1 cup slightly softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

2 extra large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

4 (or 4 1/2 cups) flour

Cream the butter and both sugars together. If you have any brown sugar lumps, you should crush them up or pull them out. They make weird dents in your baked cookies. Add the eggs and the vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add the salt and baking powder and again with the mixing of the dough. 

Before you add the flour, let's have a little chat. Different altitudes need different amounts of flour. Differences in humidity will the change the amount of flour you should add. Is there a storm coming? That changes things. Add only 3 cups to begin with. Then add additional flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is no longer sticky. (This happens at about 4 cups of flour for me...except in the winter time when it happens at 3 1/2 cups flour.) That's when you should stop if you are going to chill the dough, or just wait for another day to bake it. If you are going to roll it out right away, add another half of a cup of flour so it will be thick enough to move from rolling out surface to your baking sheet. 

Bake at 350F. If you roll to 1/4" thick, bake for about 7 minutes. If you roll to 3/8" thick, bake for about 10 minutes.