FRIED CHEESE = HEAVEN!!

I had a serious craving for some fried cheese Friday - like serious craving!!! So I decided to do something about it and make me some! It's really simple and delicious.

You need:
Cheese
Flour
Beer Batter
Oil for frying

I went over to my Mom's to make these - fried cheese is best when shared. We used three types of cheese:
Mozzarella
White Sharp Cheddar
Swiss Emmentaler Cheese


After trying all three, we both really like the Swiss the best. This can be found in the specialty cheese section of your store. I was a little leery of trying the Swiss - but the taste was spectacular - so much better than mozzarella. I strongly suggest you try the Swiss when doing this.

Cut your cheese into sticks or bite size pieces. I did small squares and strips - either worked well, so it is just your preference.
It is important that you let your cheese get to room temperature before going on to the next step.



Once your cheese is a room temp, dust lightly in flour. When your cheese gets to room temperature it allows the oils to come to the surface thus making the flour stick to it. The flour is what causes the batter to adhere to the cheese and fry up nicely.



I just used a box mix of beer batter and it worked just fine. Just make it to package directions. You need to have your oil nice and hot - around 350-375 degrees. You need it hot enough to brown the batter before melting your cheese. If your cheese starts melting out before your batter is brown - your oil is not hot enough, stop and let the oil get hot enough.




That's what I call FRIED FOOD PORN and I'm not ashamed to say I look at it!



Here it is fancied up on a nice plate! These are best eaten warm! And in case any of you are worried, we did dip and fry some cauliflower too, so it wasn't ALL cheese! (not that there's anything wrong with that)

THE EASIEST & YUMMIEST LEMON COOKIES

Before we start - let's take a look at my new baby, shall we?

Ok, now that that is out of the way - let's get started. First here is the basic recipe:

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes in the preheated oven. The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy.

______________________

I changed it up just a little. I doubled the recipe and used a Lemon and a Strawberry cake mix. You can really use any flavor of cake mix you want - the sky is the limit with this easy recipe.



A cake mix and three ingredients, does it get any easier???



Dump all ingredients into you new, marvelous, fabulous mixer!! I know, I'm excited, bare with me!


See how excited I was - I didn't even have the right attachment on my new mixer - whoops! Ok, here is where I had to look for my book and figure out how in the heck to change attachments!!



Ok, there we go - attachment changed and all mixed up.



You can see that this dough just sticks together, which is the perfect consistency for having to roll into balls by hand, which we will do in just a minute.



I like to get my little station set up. I have my bowl of dough, a bowl of powdered sugar to roll my balls in (hehehe) and my pan all set up with my cookie liner. We are ready to rock and ROLL (I know, I kill me too!).



You can either use a spoon or just pinch off the amount you want to roll. Using a spoon helps you keep the cookies in a more consistent size, but who measures finished cookies to see if they are all the same size?? I know no one in my family does, we just eat them!



Take your ball and drop it in your bowl of sugar.



You can taste it already, can't you!? Roll your ball around and get it covered in the sugar.




There is no need to flatten these balls out - they will do it on their own. See, I told you this was EASY! Since they will flatten out, make sure to leave enough space between them to do so while in the oven.



Once baked, transfer them to a cooling rack.



The powdered sugar not only looks awesome on the cookies, but it tastes so good too. I mean like finger licking good. No really, you will have to lick your fingers to get all the yummy powdered sugar off of them.


Also, a little tip to keep cookies moist:
Put a piece of bread in the container you are storing your cookies in. I promise you - they will stay nice and moist!





I'm working on a variation of these cookies that I hope to share with you all really soon - let me just share with you two words:

• Chocolate
• Cheesecake

let THAT marinate for a little while!!

PRIZES IN MY NAME MY MIXER CONTEST

Hey girls! Wow, I have already gotten a good response to my little contest I am having - so thank you!

I got some pictures of the Cupcake cook book I told you all about yesterday, and added a few more prizes to the pot as well. So far the prize list stands at:

• (1) 500 Cupcakes Cookbook
• (2 DOZ) Cookies made fresh by me!
  
• (1) Brand New Helzberg Diamond's Cultured Pearl "I Am Loved" Bracelet
• (2) Bath & Body Works Scented Anti Bacterial purse size hand gel
• More prizes could be added so check this list often :)
  

Since I have "upped the ante" on the prizes, I am going to require that every one who enters must be a follower as well. I want to give these great prizes to someone who is going to hang with us on our blog and not just scouring the Internet for free "booty" - lol! So please, if you have already made a guess and are NOT a follower, please make sure that you change that now.

Also, BEFORE making a guess, please check the running list I have of already submitted names. You can not submit a name that has already been done, or your entry will be deleted. I will update the list daily to keep it as current as possible! There are already some really great names submitted.

Thanks again girls - I think this is turning out to be much funner than I had hoped!

TADA!!! & A CONTEST - WOOOOT!!

I finally have a Kitchen Aid Artisan stand mixer!! I have wanted one of these for at LEAST 8 years. I kept thinking the price would eventually go down to a more affordable price range - needless to say it never did. But thanks to my tax return I finally took a leap and ordered it! I got the exact one shown above, the color is called Ice - it matches my new Paula Deen blue speckled cookware I got for Christmas:




I have had my mixer for about a month now and haven't even used it! But I am breaking her in tonight!


I thought it would be fun to have a Contest to name my new mixer. That's where all of you come in! Here is what you need to do:
*Make sure to check the list of names at the top of this blog, these names have already been submitted. In order for me to pick a winner, I am taking the name from the first person who submitted it!

• Email me your name choice to Brookiebaby0506@yahoo.com.
• The subject line MUST say "NAME CONTEST".
• Make sure I have a valid email address to be able to contact you back with.
• Depending on how many entries I get I will either post all the names or a shortened list (picked by me) for you all to vote on the winning name.
• This is open to all US & International readers.
• All entries must be rec'd by: MARCH 26th
• You MUST be a follower of Polishing Off . . .!!!
  

Now for the good part - what do you win:
I'm still working on what and how big I'm going to make the prize.

2 Dozen cookies made especially by me and my new mixer!!***
Cupcake Cookbook
I will add a few more kitchen/cooking type items. As I find them, I will update the prize list at that time. If I get a lot of interest in this contest, expect the prize list to grow! :)

***If the winner is international, I will send the dry mix and directions on what wet ingredients for you to add, since I don't think the cookies would stay fresh through shipping.

ALL APOLOGIES....

Hey there! First - a huge apology from Helen, Christy and Brooke for the lack of posts here. We started this thinking that between three ladies we could keep this going - guess we needed like three more ladies to join us, lol.

Seriously - we all do apologise for the lack of posting here and I personally (Brooke) am making a promise to post here more often - I think I could at the very least do one post a week, that isn't too much to ask. So thanks for hanging in there with us this long ladies - don't give up on us yet :)

I have some wonderful cookies I plan to show you all how to make this week and I can unveil at little gift I gave to myself that I have wanted for at least 10 years.

Thank you!

Brooke, Helen & Christy