Fuel Your Culinary Passion
Ingredients: Kit-Kat bar Pillsbury grands or Crescent dough Non-stick spray Powdered sugar (optional) Directions: Chop Kit-Kats in half. Place each piece inside the dough. Use dough amount as desired. Roll the dough to completely wrap around each piece of Kit-Kat. Coat the air fryer pan with non-stick spray. Set the air fryer to 350 degrees F and cook for 8 minutes. Serve with powdered sugar as desired.
Espresso may seem intimidating, especially perfecting a shot. Contrary to popular belief you don’t need the fanciest manual machine. There are many options out there for making espresso, either with stovetop makers or automatic capsule methods. Regardless of your method, you should learn the basics of espresso and how to operate the machine of your choice. If you’re looking for an authentic Italian espresso, you’ll need an espresso machine. A manual machine where you can tamp and brew everything yourself generally offers a greater level of control. Here’s how you can prepare espresso with one of these machines. Grind and measure your beans. Using dark roast coffee beans and a quality grinder, grind enough beans to make one or two espresso shots. An average single espresso shot will require between 6 and 8 grams of coffee grounds, although this can be adjusted up or down. For a double shot, about 15 grams. Your grounds should be powdery and fine, so go ahead and use the finest setting on your grinder. If you want to be sure you measured correctly, you can weigh your grounds on a kitchen scale — just make sure to tare out the portafilter first. Distribute and tamp down your shot. Once you have an amount of grounds in your portafilter that you’re happy with, distribute the grounds evenly with a finger, place the portafilter on the countertop or other flat surface, and then use the tamper to tamp down on the grounds. You’ll then have a compact disk of espresso in the portafilter. Pull your shot. Before you start, run the machine briefly without a portafilter in place to clear the ground head. Then, lock the portafilter into the machine, position your demitasse glass or other vessel underneath, and start your shot. The espresso should be ready after 25 to 30 seconds, but it will take practice with your specific machine and lots of taste tests to achieve shots to your liking. (Some machines require you to time it manually, while others offer different settings.) The final product shouldn’t be too light or dark in color, shouldn’t taste too acidic or too bitter, and should have a fine layer of caramel-colored crema on top. Prepare milk if using and enjoy your espresso. If you’re trying to make a latte or other drink with milk, you’ll then need to steam your milk. If not, enjoy your espresso as is! Make sure to clean and dry the portafilter, as well as purge and wipe down the milk frothing wand, when you’re done. Source: Good Housekeeping
Looking to satisfy that sweet tooth? Use your Air Fryer to prepare these delicious fried snickers bites. The flaky grands pair perfectly with the Snickers bar inside. It’s a quick snack the whole family will love. Ingredients: Snickers bar Pillsbury grands or Crescent dough Non-stick spray Powdered sugar (optional) Directions: Cut the Snickers bar in small pieces about ½ inch each. Place each piece inside the dough. Use dough amount as desired. Roll the dough to completely wrap around each piece of Snickers. Coat the air fryer pan with non-stick spray. Set the air fryer to 350 degrees F and cook for 8 minutes. Serve with powdered sugar as desired.
If you’re looking to give your interior space an instant update, look no further than a houseplant. They’ve been gaining popularity over the past few years and are great in kitchens, bathrooms or living rooms. Research shows that being surrounded by plants offers benefits including improved mental health, better sleep and boosting feelings of connection. If you’re worried about losing a plant because the one you bought last year died in ten minutes, don’t worry! Follow this guide to find everything you should know before buying. Plants come in many different types and luckily there’s plenty for beginners. Looking for a low maintenance and striking plant? Try the snake plant. If you’re looking for a splashy plant that doesn’t require a lot, go with the monstera deliciosa. Always read the plant tag for care tips so you’ll be better prepared for the maintenance. How to Purchase You may be asking yourself, where should I be purchasing plants, in person or online? Both are great options. An in person experience with a nursery gives you a physical and tangible feel for the available plants. But there are also many reliable online retailers. They do a great job at packaging plants for shipment and offering unique and unusual varieties. If you’re browsing in person look for plants that appear healthy, no droopiness, yellow or brown leaves, and no sticky or cottony masses. These can be signs of pests. If you know a specific plant you want, be sure to look for it by its botanical name to ensure you get just what you’re looking for. Pets Unfortunately, many plants can make your pets sick. An English Ivy can cause your pet aches and vomiting, while lilies can be deadly, especially to cats. Always check the ASPCA toxic plants list to learn which plants you should keep away from your pets. Remember, any plant if ingested in large enough quantities can cause gastrointestinal upset. Keep an eye on your pets to see if they like to nibble on plants and always call your vet as soon as possible if you suspect they may have eaten something potentially toxic. Maintenance Besides giving it the right kind of light, watering correctly is the next most important thing for your houseplants. Overwatering is the most common reason for houseplants dying. Use a finger and press into the soil to feel for dampness. If the soil clings it’s probably wet enough and you shouldn’t water it again. If the soil pulls away from the sides of the pot or the plant is wilted, it’s time to water. It’ll take time to find the right balance but try to stay closer to dry to be safe. Insufficient light will cause plants to drop leaves, stretch toward the light or die altogether. Even if you want a specific plant, if there’s not enough light for it you’d be better off picking a plant that tolerates low light. Analyze your space to see how much light a specific area gets. You can also use your phone’s compass if you’re unsure of the direction. In general south-facing windows get the most intense light, while east-facing windows receive bright morning light and indirect light for the rest of the day. West-facing windows will get the setting sun so bright light plants will do well here. North windows get the least amount of light so they’re best for low light plants. Source: House Beautiful
We’ve recently launched the Cooking with Cosmo TikTok, and we’re excited to share a brand new source of content with our community. We’ll be focusing on weekly recipes we’re sure you’ll love. Be sure to check out one of our most recent air fryer recipe posts below and follow us here! Air Fryer Deep Fried Oreos Ingredients: Pack of Oreos ½ cup of pancake mix ⅓ cup of water Non-stick spray Powdered sugar Directions: Mix pancake mix and water until smooth. Coat Oreos evenly in the mix. Spray air fryer with non-stick spray. Cook at 400 degrees F for 4-5 minutes. Flip the Oreos and continue cooking for 2 more minutes. Top the Oreos with powdered sugar as desired.
Just like food, medicine, or cosmetics, cleaning products also have a shelf life. Using products outside of the optimal time frame could result in less effective disinfecting. This time frame will depend on the kind of disinfectant you’re using. Here’s the three most common categories and when you should consider replacing them. Store-bought Disinfectants These typically have a shelf life of about a year. The one year usually begins with the manufacture date listed on the product. Over time the main active ingredient, or the chemical doing the advertised action, may degrade. Unlike food products, cleaning products won’t usually have a “best by” date listed on the package. Look for the manufacture date on the printed label. DIY Solutions You may have diluted bleach with water to disinfect. Keep in mind that bleach is less stable in a diluted form which means temperature, light or contamination can cause it to degrade much faster. It’s unlikely that the solution will be unsafe to use, but it would be less effective the longer it sits. It’s always best to use these DIY solutions as soon as possible. Avoid putting these in a spray bottle for long-term use. Alcohol-based Hand Sanitizer The active ingredient in these sanitizers is alcohol, and it evaporates when exposed to air. This will start happening as soon as the bottle is opened. Most bottles aren’t air-tight, so the effectiveness will lessen over time. It’ll eventually reach its lowest point of effectiveness at the three year mark. As previously mentioned with the DIY solution, while it isn’t likely for these to be unsafe to use, it’s better to replace them if they won’t be protecting against harmful pathogens. Source: the Kitchn
If you need a quick dessert recipe for this weekend, look no further than air fried chocolate easter eggs! These can be prepared easily for a delicious treat with minimal mess. Add these to do your to-do list for the whole family to participate. Ingredients: 1 Cadbury Easter Crème Milk Chocolate Egg 2 Pillsbury Grands Cheese cake frosting Directions: Wrap the 2 Pillsbury Grands around the egg Air fry the egg laying on its side for 12 minutes at 400 degrees F. Top with cheese cake frosting Enjoy! From all of us here at Cosmo, we wish you a safe and Happy Easter!
A sweet potato soup is the perfect balance of sweet and savory with onions, garlic, and leeks along with nutmeg and cinnamon. It’s creamy and satisfying. If you’d like to skip on the dairy, feel free to substitute it with soy or coconut milk. You can serve this soup with crusty bread to dip or along with beef, pork or chicken. Due to its creaminess, the soup goes well with a side salad of fresh lettuce greens. Prep time: 15 minsCook time: 50 minsTotal time: 65 minsServings: 6 to 8 servings Note: If you want to make this soup without dairy, feel free to substitute either additional stock, which will result in a thinner soup, or soy milk or coconut milk for the cream and milk in this recipe. Omit the sour cream or yogurt topping, and use olive oil instead of butter. Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter 1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup) 2 celery ribs, chopped 1 medium leek, white and light green parts only, sliced 1 clove garlic, chopped (1 teaspoon) 1 1/2 pounds (about 2 large) orange-flesh sweet potatoes (a.k.a. yams), peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 5 cups) 4 cups chicken stock (use vegetable broth for vegetarian option) 1 cinnamon stick 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 cup heavy cream 3/4 cup milk Salt Pepper 1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt Directions: Cook the onions, celery, leeks, and garlic: Melt the butter in a large, thick-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes, then add the celery and leeks and sauté for 5 more minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook a minute more. Make and simmer the soup: Add the sweet potatoes, chicken stock, cinnamon stick, and nutmeg. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and simmer uncovered until the sweet potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes. Blend the soup: Remove the cinnamon stick. Use an immersion blender to purée the soup or work in batches and purée the soup in a standing blender. Finish the soup: Add the cream and milk to the soup. Heat on medium until the soup is heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.Sprinkle with more black pepper and swirl some water-thinned sour cream or plain yogurt over the soup to serve. Source: Simply Recipes
Madeleines are little French butter cakes with classic lemon scents. They can be a bit tricky and need a fair amount of confidence to turn out just right. Madeleines come in many different flavors such as chocolate, rose and vanilla. Some people even add mini chocolate chips or a glaze. This recipe is fairly straightforward for the classic lemon taste. Ingredients: 1 stick plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, divided 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Pinch of salt 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoon lemon zest Powdered sugar (optional) Equipment: Small saucepan Small bowl 2 medium mixing bowls Measuring cups and spoons Whisk Spatula 2 madeleine pans Pastry brush Small sieve for dusting with powdered sugar (optional) Directions: Melt the butter. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. If you feel you can get it slightly toasty brown, go right ahead and do so by leaving it to bubble in the pan until it smells toasty and starts to color. Just remember that the butter will turn very quickly from toasty to burnt and that it will continue to color after it is off the heat unless you pour it into a new container. Spoon 3 tablespoons of the butter into a small bowl or cup and set aside. Let the rest of the butter cool slightly. Prepare the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients in separate bowls. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup of the flour and the sugar, and set aside. In another medium bowl, whisk the 2 eggs with the vanilla, salt, lemon juice, and lemon zest until the eggs are frothy. Combine the dry and wet ingredients. Add the eggs to the flour. Using a spatula, stir until just combined. Add the remaining 1 stick melted butter and continue to stir. It may take a minute for the butter to blend into the mixture but do not over mix. Rest the batter. Cover the bowl with a plate (or plastic wrap) and place in the refrigerator to rest at least 1 hour and up to overnight. Prepare the pans. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon flour to the 3 tablespoons reserved butter and stir to combine. Using a pastry brush, brush the interiors of the shells with the butter-flour mixture so that they are well coated. Place the pans in the freezer for at least an hour. Preheat the oven and fill pans. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the batter from the refrigerator and one pan from the freezer. Fill each well in the madeleine pan with 1 tablespoon of the batter. Remove the other pan and fill in the same way. Bake the madeleines. Place both pans on a baking sheet for easy handling and place in the oven. Check after 8 minutes and rotate plans. Check again 5 minutes later. The madeleines should be browning around the edges and puffed up a little in the middle. Using your forefinger, press lightly on the center hump — when the madeleines are finished baking, it should spring back at your touch. Cool and dust with sugar. Remove the madeleines from the oven and let cool for 2 minutes. Using a fork, gently loosen the madeleines from their molds and then tip the whole pan out onto a cooling rack or tea towel. Once cool, dust lightly with powdered sugar and serve. If you are freezing or storing the madeleines, do not dust with the sugar until you are about to serve. To store. Store cooled madeleines in an airtight container for a few days or freeze them in a double wrapping of plastic wrap for several months. Let the cakes defrost before dusting with sugar. Source: the Kitchn
Homeowners can feel the urge to jump through homes whenever they’re unhappy with where they live. After all, finding a home you’ll want to stay in forever can be daunting. However, renovating a home or kitchen can be a manageable solution to avoid the urge to move all together. These upgrades bring the heart to a space and improve the home for the better. There’s one big mistake people are making when renovating their homes: not taking into consideration if there are young children living in it. Babies and toddlers especially make a mess and will most likely scratch, draw on, or break something they’re not supposed to. There isn’t much sense to redo your floors if they will be drawn over in a week or two. It’s logical to wait until children are a bit older before you start investing in any serious upgrade. Patience is key for these kinds of renovations. While a renovation can look pretty temporarily, it could really cost you in the long run. Source: House Beautiful
