Cheddar Cheese Hushpuppies with Chipotle Honey Dipping Sauce

I have been obsessing about making Cheddar Cheese Hushpuppies ever since we had some as an appetizer at a wonderful restaurant while on vacation in Santa Barbara with our friends Jim and Michele. The hushpuppies were so good that we all went back to the same restaurant on the last day of our trip and ordered them again. Several months later, Mr. Kitchen and I headed back to Santa Barbara for a weekend stay. Guess what we had with our cocktails...

Clearly, I needed to try to make these at home.

Durum Bread

I have wanted to try making this Durum Bread for quite some time. I love the nutty flavor of durum flour, but I'm sometimes defeated by the fragility of the dough.

Durum flour has a high protein level, and is typically used for making pasta. It does not behave like bread or all purpose flour. However, it does make amazingly flavorful bread, as long as you pay attention and make sure you are developing adequate strength in the dough.

The flour can be found in Indian markets or online. You may even be able to find it at a big box store. I get mine from King Arthur Flour, as well as Surfas Culinary District (we are lucky enough to have the mothership here). Don't confuse it with the more coarsely ground semolina. Durum is finely ground.

Horseradish Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese

These Horseradish Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese are perfect for an elegant dinner. With a hint of horseradish, they go perfectly with roast beef. We had them with brisket, and they were a big hit.

It's Secret Recipe Club time again! Every month, members are secretly assigned another member's blog, and must choose one recipe to make. On reveal day, we all post at the exact same time. You can see all of the fabulous recipes we made by clicking on the thumbnails below.

Sourdough Crackers | The Leftover Sourdough Starter Dilemma

These sourdough crackers are made with unfed sourdough starter. They have the tang of sourdough bread, and are a great way to use up the starter that you would normally throw away when feeding your levain.

Taiwanese Style Stir-Fried Scallops and Shrimp with Chives | Wok Wednesdays

This Taiwanese Style Stir-Fried Scallops and Shrimp with Chives dish is so succulent and rich tasting, yet the ingredient list is so simple!

As is typical for Wok Wednesdays, making this stir-fry required a trip to the Asian market for one ingredient I did not have, yellow chives. Neither did the market. Gah!

Chocolate Andes Mint Chip Cookies

These Chocolate Andes Mint Chip Cookies were so easy to make, and such a huge hit!

The little candy on top immediately drew in my grandkids, but what made them love, love, love these cookies were the bits of chopped up Andes Mints throughout every bite.

Muesli Rolls | the Babes Get Healthy... and I'm a Babe!

These muesli rolls are full of lots of good things, such as oats, walnuts, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, and dried fruit. But the best thing is....

Oven Fried Onion Rings

I made these oven fried onion rings on a complete whim. My cousin, who has an amazing green thumb and can grow just about anything in her hillside yard, had just harvested a lot of onions and gave me a big bag full.

Kesra - Moroccan Flat Bread

Kesra is a Moroccan country bread that is common at every meal in the region. It can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and to sop up all of the delicious sauces and salads that are traditional to Moroccan and north African food. It is often used in the place of utensils. (I've also seen it referred to as hobz or khobz.)

Chocolate Brownie Crackle Cookies

These Chocolate Brownie Crackle Cookies are so chocolaty, tender, and moist. They are melt-in-your-mouth good. Imagine brownies, but in the form of a cookie!

I've made similar cookies before. Check out my Chocolate Truffle Cookies, and my Chocolate Truffle Cookies with a Crackle Crust. However, this is the first time I've tried making the cookies with powdered sugar on top.

For the first batch, I dusted the cookies with the powdered sugar prior to baking....

Hong Kong-Style Chinese Broccoli and Pan-Seared Thick-Cut Filet Mignon Steaks | Wok Wednesdays

This Hong Kong Style Chinese Broccoli stir-fry is so easy and amazingly flavorful. I keep asking myself why I waited this long to try Chinese greens prepared in a wok. They are so amazingly delicious. Seriously!

Fruit Focaccia | Tuesday's with Dorie

This fruit focaccia is so good for breakfast! It's great eaten unadorned on the day it is baked, and is excellent sliced in half, toasted, and buttered the next day.

The fruit is macerated in hot water for about three hours, and then the resulting liquid is used for the water in the bread. How cool is that?

Hawaiian Style Sweet Rolls

These Hawaiian Sweet Rolls are the perfect vehicle for pulled barbecue pork sliders. They are also amazing as dinner rolls. We even sliced them and used them for French bread and cinnamon toast.

What I love about them is that they are so fluffy and light. Sweet, but not too sweet. Buttery, but not too much so. Pretty much just right!