I am participating in Hellmann’s (yup, Mayo!) Chicken Change Up.
And, well, I made a video. Weird.
Hellmann’s Chicken Change Up Challenge (click to watch- but promise you won’t make fun)
Hellmann’s created the Chicken Change Up as a way to help us solve our dinner dilemmas. Whether we are pressed for time, dealing with picky eaters or budget conscious, they have recipes that can help. Seeing as I could use help in all of those areas, I decided this would be a great project to be involved in. All of the recipes are available on their Facebook page (and they ALL sound delicious!) AND from now until April 30, 2012, if you decide to participate in the challenge, you can enter to win a $5,000 grocery gift card! Or enter to win a daily price of a $50 grocery gift card with a chance to win the $5,000! See full contest rules over on Facebook.
AND, as I said in my video, I don’t like mayonnaise. But I realize that when baked, it totally transforms so I thought it would be a good way to challenge myself to become more familiar with what mayonnaise can do and how I could introduce it in to my everyday cooking. Have you ever used mayonnaise in anything other than a salad-type recipe? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.
I will be sharing my chicken recipe in a few days but first I thought I would start off and explore what mayonnaise can do in baked goods. Basically mayonnaise is eggs and oil, so it actually makes sense to think that it would be great in baked goods. And I had seen my brother-in-law make a cake for my sis-in-law once using mayo, in a pinch, so I knew I would be able to find recipes. I will say that I am not sure if I tried the cake back then. I’ve grown a bit more adventurous in my eating in my OLD age so I am willing to give it a shot. Back then I think I was still subsisting on cookies and potato chips (it was before I learned how to cook).
So I decided to try Mayo Cookies! I will admit, it was hard to smell the mayo as I was making them. I breathed through my nose. A lot.
The ingredients are super simple: sugar, flour, baking soda and salt mixed together really well. Then mix in a cup of mayo and a teaspoon of vanilla. The batter is then rolled in to balls and placed on a cookie sheet.
Using a fork, tap down the cookies and then sprinkle with sugar. I decided to try these cookies 3 different ways. First, I followed the recipe with just a sprinkle of sugar on top. Second, I tried using my favorite spiced sugar that has a touch of vanilla and cinnamon for sprinkling. Lastly, I rolled the entire dough ball in sugar before squashing them with a fork.
The cookies come out of the oven golden brown, super crispy and taste very similar to a sugar cookie. I think my favorite cookies were the ones that I rolled all the way in sugar. Those browned up really nice on the bottom and were headed towards caramely. Does that make any sense at all? But I think next time, I would roll the dough in the spiced sugar all the way around. That would have added a touch of something extra special. If I hadn’t told my guests that these were made with mayo, I’m pretty sure they would never have guessed. The cookies were a smidge on the greasy side, so I suggest using a touch less mayo then the recipe calls for. For some reason, I didn’t think to check if Hellmann’s had cookie recipes on their site. But they totally do! The Hellmann’s recipe is a bit different then the recipe that I used, but I bet they make a similar cookie. Who knew you could do so much in the way of dessert with mayonnaise!
So don’t forget to check out all the amazing ways to change up your chicken on the Hellmann’s Facebook page and be sure to see their full recipe database on Hellmanns.com.
Check back tomorrow for a recipe that my mom used to make us that isn’t baked! And I still eat it! And I can’t wait to share the chicken recipe I tried with you. It was delicious!
*Discolsure: Hellmann’s product and additional incentives were provided to me. All opinions stated are my own.
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