Shrimp Scampi

Not a great pic, but, this will do to get the idea! The scampi tastes great with crostini, like they serve it at "Bertucci's", although it is also served with linguine and marinara sauce at most Italian places.

Ingredients
Shrimp - 1 lbs
garlic - 4 cloves,crushed
olive oil - 1 tbsp
butter - 2 tbsp
dry white wine - 1/2 cup
lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Parsley for garnishing
salt & pepper


Heat olive oil in a skillet, add butter and shrimp. When the shrimp has turned pink, add salt and garlic; saute for 2 mins. Remove shrimp and set aside.
In the same pan add wine and lemon juice and bring it to boil. Add shrimp, parsley and season with pepper and a dash of olive oil.
Serve immediately with crostini's.

Sugar cookies

Ingredients
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp salt

Method:
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Roll out dough on floured surface or in between two sheets of parchment paper, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Do not grease or flour the sheet.
Bake for 6-8 mins (the edges will turn slightly brown). The cookies at this point will look under done but it is completely cooked. Remove the baking tray and let cool( if not cooled, the cookie will crumble during removing from the sheet) 2 mins on the counter top, remove cookies with a statula and lay them on wire rack to cool.

Note: this dough can be made and shaped into a log, covered with parchment paper, saran wrapped and stored in ref/ freezer for later use. If frozen, thaw it for 1 hr before slicing.Refrigerated and sliced cookies can go right in the oven with the addition of 2 mins during baking time.

Apple strudel muffins

Ingredients for the batter:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups, finely chopped apples

for strudel/ topping
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup oats
1 tbs butter

Method
Batter: In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla, stir in apples, and gradually add the flour mixture ( dry ingredients) a little at a time making sure that the batter is lump free.

Strudel:In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour,oats and cinnamon. Cut small pieces of butter and add in, blend until mixture is like coarse crumbs. This crumb is used as Sprinkle over tops of muffins in muffin pan, before baking .

Bake:Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line with cupcake liners - in a 12 cup regular muffin pan or 24 mini muffin pan. * I sprayed the muffin pan with cooking spray on top of the liners for clean removal of muffins.* Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan - half full only.
Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven for 12 muffins, or 7-12 mins for mini muffin pan (until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean). Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack.