copycat recipe Archives - The Midnight Baker

Copycat Olive Garden Chicken and Pasta

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 23:00:37 +0000

Copycat Olive Garden chicken and pasta is a delicious slow cooker dinner that’s easy to make.

Copycat Olive Garden Chicken And Pasta: It’s As Good As They Say!

I believe this one originated on Tik Tok. There’s a lot of recipes that go viral from there just like that feta and tomato pasta. There’s a reason they become viral; they’re usually easy and very tasty. This copycat Olive Garden chicken and pasta is no different.

This recipe makes a lot so if you have family who have huge appetites–meaning teenage boys–then there won’t be any leftovers. For lighter appetites there will be leftovers but hear me out here–this tastes even better the next day! I usually dislike any reheated chicken, but this is very good.

The Pasta

That would be any tubular shape you like. I used penne here but ziti, rigatoni or elbows will do just fine. So will small or medium shells. As always, use what you have.

One thing here is this is not a total slow cooker recipe. You cook the pasta conventionally. I’d like to try this where you’d let the pasta cook along with everything else, but there’d have to be more liquid added in order to cook the pasta. The recipe doesn’t have that much liquid so there’d have to be adjustments. You might be able to get away with it if you used regular egg noodles, but I’m not sure. So if anyone feels like experimenting, please let me know your results.

The Sauce

The sauce is pretty simple. It’s broth, salad dressing and cream cheese.

The recipe calls for the brand-name Olive Garden dressing. I was careful to use that because in a comparison of other Italian dressings on the store shelf, it looked somewhere between the creamy and traditional varieties. Since I want something I make to come out as it should, initially I will use exactly what’s called for in the recipe. The good thing here is you don’t use the entire bottle so you can pop it in the fridge to either use on salads or for another time you make.

Personally, I found the finished product a bit on the dry side so I just added a bit of cream to make it more juicy.

The Recipe

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Copycat Olive Garden Chicken and Pasta

Easy and delicious

Prep Time10

Cook Time4

Course: Main, Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: olive garden chicken, olive garden copycat chicken recipe, slow cooker chicken and pasta, tik tok chicken

Servings: 6

Calories: 741kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1.5-2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast
8 oz Olive Garden Italian dressing from a 16oz bottle
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese jarred is fine too
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp of parsley
1/4 cup of melted butter
8 oz Chicken broth
4 oz heavy cream
8 ounce block of full fat cream cheese
16 ounces penne pasta

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Add the chicken breasts to the bottom of your slow cooker.
In a separate bowl, mix the Olive Garden Italian dressing, cream, butter, broth, parmesan, pepper & parsley until combined.
Pour the mixture over the chicken breasts
Place the cream cheese on top.
Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 5-6 hours.
When the chicken is tender boil your pasta according to box directions and drain.
Shred the chicken with 2 forks mixing everything together.
Toss the pasta in with the chicken and sauce and sprinkle with extra parmesan cheese if desired.

Nutrition

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Copycat Girl Scout DoSiDos

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 00:00:18 +0000

DoSiDos are a perennial Girl Scout cookie favorite. This is the best copycat version you’ll find.

Best Copycat Girl Scout DoSiDos

i’ve tried a lot of copycat recipes for these perennially favorite Girl Scout cookies, but none have come as close to this one.

There’s something for everyone in these cookies. If you like oatmeal, check, it’s in here. If you like coconut, check, it’s also in here. As a side note if you’re not fond of coconut, it can be left out. Last but not least is the creamy peanut butter filling. It’s absolutely wonderful!

These aren’t formed in the usual peanut butter cookie way so leave the fork in the drawer.

Shaping

Unlike the usual shaping of traditional peanut butter cookies, with these you don’t press them down in a cross-hatch with a fork,

These cookies are actually drop cookies and you can just drop them on the cookie sheet and let ‘er rip, as they say. However, if you want consistent sizes, you’ll want to go the extra step of rolling them into small balls. The issue, besides aesthetics, is that they are sandwich cookies so you want them all to be pretty much the same size,

I actually measured out the dough using a standard measuring tablespoon–and leveling it off. This made balls about the size of a hazelnut and that worked out very well as far as consistency in size went. I didn’t want humungous cookies. If you do, then make the balls a little bigger. Remember the yield is actually half because you use two cookies to make one–if that makes sense,

Filling

This is crazy delicious so you have to stop yourself from “taste testing” before the cookies are filled.

The caution here is that it makes quite a bit so you may have some left over. I did and I wasn’t cheap with filling the cookies either. Granted I didn’t measure the amount I put on; I just eyeballed it but I would say it was about 1 1/2 tablespoons if I had to guess.

A pastry bag with a 1/2-inch round tip works pretty well for distributing the filling, but I just dropped it on with a spoon, placed the other cookie on top and squeezed the middle. Worked for me and I had less to wash up.

The Recipe

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Copycat DoSiDos

Best copycat of the beloved Girl Scout peanut butter cookie

Prep Time25

Cook Time12

Chill Time30

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: copycat dosidos, copycat girl scout cookie recipes, peanut butter sandwich cookies

Servings: 16

Calories: 465kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter softened
2 eggs
2 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup sweetened coconut

Peanut Butter Filling:

3 cups confectioners sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, peanut butter and butter until creamy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, coconut and oats in another bowl; mix well. Add this to the peanut butter mixture, beating at low speed until well blended. Chill for 30 minutes.
Drop by level tablespoon onto prepared sheets spacing 2-inches/5 cm apart. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are beginning to get golden brown. Cool on sheets 2 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Beat all filling ingredients together until the mixture is creamy. You may have to add a drop or 2 more milk to get the proper consistency--it should be like a soft frosting.
Place about 1-2 tablespoons of filling on half the cookies (on the side that's flat that was the down side on the sheet) then top with another cookie and press so the filling shows around the edges.
Yield varies but I got 32 sandwich cookies.

Notes

Confectioner's sugar is icing sugar in UK/EU

Nutrition

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Shrimp Caprese Pasta

Judith Hannemann — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:00:00 +0000

Shrimp Caprese Pasta

This delicate alfredo-style pasta will use some of that bumper crop of tomatoes from your garden! Add grilled shrimp and you get this wonderful Shrimp Caprese dinner! Just like Olive Garden!

Love Olive Garden?

This is one of my favorite summer dinners! It takes a minimum of prep and it’s very quick to make. Even though there are a couple of steps that have to be completed almost at the same time, I still call it an “easy dinner.”

I grow a HUGE herb garden in the summer so I’m always dying to use the nice fresh herbs I can go out and pick as I need them. Most folks grow tomatoes too–I didn’t this year–but even if you don’t, we all know someone who does and we usually end up with some. But you can use store bought here, but just make sure to use a very flavorful variety.

The original recipe calls for Roma (plum) tomatoes which taste pretty much OK store bought, but there are much better varieties! I used Campari in this, but another great choice would be the Kumatoes, which are bursting with flavor! Even grape or cherry will do you.

Use your garden’s bounty

Everything At Once

Even though it seems that you must cook the shrimp at the same time you’re cooking the sauce AND the pasta, it really doesn’t go that way! The sauce will take the longest to “cook” so I usually have my pot of water simmering for the pasta at the same time, so when I reduce the heat to simmer the sauce, in goes the pasta then I go out to grill the shrimp. It all seems to come together rather nicely as they’re all done at the same time! On a hot grill or broiler, the shrimp should only take about 5 minutes to cook. You can use pre-cooked, but I find they lack flavor that the grilling/broiling imparts.

Yes, this is rich!! No, don’t substitute milk…it won’t thicken. I wouldn’t suppose this would be a weekly thing anyway with the cost of shrimp, so just put this one down to a guilty pleasure you eat just a couple of times a year!

The Recipe

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Shrimp Caprese Pasta

This delicate alfredo-style pasta will use some of that bumper crop of tomatoes from your garden! Add grilled shrimp and you get this wonderful Shrimp Caprese dinner! Just like Olive Garden!

Prep Time1

Cook Time20

Total Time1 20

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: pasta, shrimp

Servings: 2 -3

Calories: 1755kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

8 oz angel hair pasta uncooked
1 cup shredded or finely diced mozzarella
8 oz cooked shrimp*

MARINATED TOMATOES

3-4 campari or roma tomatoes
2-3 large fresh basil leaves roughly chopped -OR- 1/2 tsp dehydrated
1 tsp fresh oregano chopped -OR- 1/4 tsp dehydrated
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp salt

PASTA SAUCE

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded asiago cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper black will do in a pinch

Instructions

*I grill my shrimp, but you may broil or boil. You can even use pre-cooked (I don't recommend it though. Grilling and broiling produce superior flavor. I used large (21-25 ct/lb) shrimp. I generally will grill them while the sauce is reducing and the pasta is cooking, but whatever method is best for you is the key.
For Marinated Tomatoes--remove pulp and seeds from tomatoes and roughly dice. Place in a small bowl and add the remaining ingredients; stir. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
For Sauce--Heat a large, deep skillet or saute pan over medium heat.
Melt butter and add the wine. Bring to a boil. Stir in cheeses, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until sauce is reduced to your desired consistency--mine was the consistence of a thin white sauce and I reduced for about 8 minutes. If you want it thicker, reduce for longer.
While sauce is reducing, cook pasta. The way I prepare very thin pasta such as angel hair is, I bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the angel hair, stir, cover and shut OFF the heat. It should take about 3-5 minutes to cook, depending on how al dente you want it. Drain very well.
Add the drained pasta to the sauce, tossing to coat well.
Remove pasta to serving plate and top with marinated tomatoes, mozzarella and grilled shrimp.

Nutrition

Shrimp Caprese Pasta

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Easy Hawaiian Rolls #2

Judith Hannemann — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Easy Hawaiian Rolls

Exactly like Kings Hawaiian rolls and so easy too!

I love Kings Hawaiian Rolls…I mean I REALLY love them…so much that I can eat practically a whole package in one sitting. There’s just something about the combo of the texture and the taste.

So easy and cheap you’ll never believe!

I’ve made other attempts at duplicating them, and they’ve been pretty good. This is another one of my copycat recipes for them. They are very good, but these are better. So good in fact, I cannot tell the difference.

The plus here is that they use very inexpensive ingredients so you don’t have to buy anything special. If you don’t have bread flour, then use regular all-purpose.

Light and fluffy. Just add butter….or not! Good just by itself!

The pineapple juice is nice, but you don’t need it. Water will do you here.

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Easy Hawaiian Rolls #2

Exactly like Kings Hawaiian rolls and so easy too!

Prep Time3 30

Cook Time45

Total Time4 15

Course: breads

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bread recipe, hawaiian rolls

Servings: 9

Calories: 230kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 cup warm water or pineapple juice
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp SAF yeast (aka bread machine yeast)
2 tbsp oil
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups bread flour

Instructions

Place water (or pineapple juice) in a large bowl. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Sprinkle yeast on top and let sit for 10 minutes. If bubbles form, yeast is active and you may proceed.
Add the oil and salt; stir
Stir in flour, one cup at a time, until a soft dough forms. Turn out on floured surface and knead for 5-8 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place about 1 tsp of oil in the bottom of a deep bowl. Add the dough and coat the bottom of the dough with the oil; turn dough oil side up. Cover and let rise for 1-1 1/2 hours or until double in bulk
Stand mixer method:
Place water/pineapple juice in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Add the sugar and stir. Sprinkle yeast over liquid. Let stand for 10 minutes. If bubbles form, you may proceed.
Attach dough hook to machine. Add the oil and the salt. Mix at low speed.
Add flour, one cup at a time, and knead for 3 minutes. Proceed as above.
Bread machine method:
Add ingredients as per manufacturer’s instructions. Set on dough cycle. When time is up, proceed to “shaping” instructions.
Shaping:
Lightly spray or grease a 9 x 9-inch pan.
Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 9-inch log. Cut off 9 equal portions and form into balls. Place in pan, allowing space around each ball for rising.
Cover and let rise until double in bulk, about 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake rolls for 15-20 minutes or until internal temperature of rolls is 190 degrees F -OR- until when bottom of the rolls are tapped, it produces a hollow sound.
While still hot, brush tops of each roll with butter. NOTE: what I do is just rub the end of a stick of butter on each roll.

Nutrition

Easy Hawaiian Rolls

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Cracker Barrel Chocolate Cherry Cobbler

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Cracker Barrel Chocolate Cherry Cobbler

Excellent copycat version of Cracker Barrel’s famous chocolate cherry cobbler. Have ice cream handy!

How about this one for your Super Bowl party table? This Cracker Barrel copycat recipe is sure to please. Plus it tastes just like theirs!

Just add vanilla ice cream!

This is one for the sweets lovers in the crowd! This tastes just like black forest cake, but without the fuss. And the best thing is it’s made from ingredients you probably have right in your pantry.

Just like the one at Cracker Barrel!

It’s a bit on the sweet side, so if you want, use half the sugar when you make it if you prefer something with a less intense sweetness about it. This is best served with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or cream poured on top.

Cracker Barrel Chocolate Cherry Cobbler

I used slivered almonds because almond and cherry go so well together, but you can use any type of nuts you want. I also used extra-dark semi-sweet morsels–70% cacao, but regular toll house morsels will do just fine here.

The Recipe

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Cracker Barrel Chocolate Cherry Cobbler

Excellent copycat version of Cracker Barrel’s famous chocolate cherry cobbler. Have ice cream handy!

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Total Time55

Course: desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cherry cobbler, cherry dessert, chocolate, Cracker Barrel recipes

Servings: 6

Calories: 589kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

21 oz cherry pie filling
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup cold butter
1 egg
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. You will need a 1 1/2 to 2 quart baking dish (I used a 1.5 QT oval).
Mix flour, sugar, salt & baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut butter into chunks and add to the flour mixture.
Cut in butter until the mixture resembles small peas. Set aside.
Spread cherry pie filling in the bottom of a 1.5 to 2 quart baking dish. Set aside.
Melt chocolate chips either in the microwave or stovetop. Stir frequently until the chips are all melted and mixture is smooth. Cool for about 5 minutes. Add evaporated milk and egg to melted chocolate chips. Stir until well blended.
Add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture. Mix very well. Drop randomly on top of cherry filling in baking dish. Sprinkle with the almonds.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes.
Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or cream.

Nutrition

Cracker Barrel Chocolate Cherry Cobbler

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Cracker Barrel Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 08 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Cracker Barrel Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli

Here’s a great copycat recipe for the famous Cracker Barrel Chicken Broccoli Casserole.

Is there anyone who doesn’t love Cracker Barrel’s great comfort food?

Cracker Barrel Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli

I’ve seen a number of copycat cracker barrel recipes floating around for this chicken and broccoli casserole, but I never much cared for the sauce(s) that came with it. So I perfected my own sauce.

Now I know that Velveeta isn’t everyone’s dish of tea. I rather like it and I like one thing most about it–sauces made with it do not separate like ones made with natural cheese. You can add natural cheese too, so long as there’s a fair amount of Velveeta. I’ve tried it. It works. However, if you really hate the stuff or have an allergy to it, alternate sauces can be made.

Cracker Barrel Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli

The first alternate is, of course, a cheese sauce made with a medium white sauce with yellow cheddar cheese. The second alternate is a can (10.5 oz) of condensed cheddar cheese soup to which you add 8 oz evaporated milk. So take your pick; you have 3 choices!

Naturally evaporated skim milk may be used as well as 2% Velveeta and/or cheddar cheese, and reduced-fat crackers, but please use the butter. It’s really necessary for the flavor here!

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Cracker Barrel Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli

Here’s a great copycat recipe for the famous Cracker Barrel Chicken Broccoli Casserole.

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Total Time55

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chicken, chicken and broccoli, chicken casserole recipes, Cracker Barrel recipes

Servings: 4

Calories: 761kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts 4 medium breasts, about 6 oz. each
2 cups broccoli florets fresh or frozen
2 tsp seasoned salt
1 1/2 cups Ritz cracker crumbs about 1 sleeve
3 tbsp butter melted
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar

Sauce:

1 cup evaporated milk
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups Velveeta cheese cut into cubes

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray or grease the bottom of a 11 x 7-inch baking pan.
Place chicken breasts in prepared pan. Sprinkle seasoned salt over the chicken breasts. Set aside while making sauce and buttered crumbs.
Place sauce ingredients in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HI in 30 second intervals stirring after each 30 seconds, until Velveeta is melted and sauce is smooth.
Prepare buttered crumbs by processing the crackers either in a food processor or placing them in a bag and using a rolling pin. Be careful not to overprocess the crumbs!! You want some larger pieces in there for the crunch factor!! Drizzle with the melted butter and stir until all the crumbs are coated.
Pour half the sauce over the chicken breasts. Add broccoli evenly across the top of chicken. Pour remaining cheese sauce over broccoli and chicken. Top with the buttered cracker crumbs.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes, or until chicken test done (180 degrees F) in the thickest part.
Remove from oven and top with the shredded cheddar

Nutrition

Cracker Barrel Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli

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