December 8, 2009

There's definitely something about Christmas time that makes us want to bake. For some, it may be a family tradition to make dozens of cut-out cookies for the kids to decorate, and for others it may be the fun of building and decorating a magnificent gingerbread house, or maybe just baking the traditional pumpkin or pecan pie. I miss the days when our kids were younger and we would spend a day making and decorating dozens of cut-out sugar cookies.

I've mentioned before that on a normal day-to-day basis, I don't do a lot of baking, but around this time of year, I do make more of an effort. I love giving homemade gifts so I'll usually bake up a variety of mini loaves of bread or a nice assortment of festive cookies for friends and neighbors.

There are so many amazing Christmas cookies splashed on the covers of magazines and on the food blogs this month that make me wish I had more time to make Christmas cookies.

Maybe I need one of these to help me out! I bet this little gem would get the job done a lot faster than my little hand held mixer.

90th Anniversary Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer

It just so happens that Susan over at She's Becoming Doughmesstic is giving away one of these beautiful Candy Apple Red KitchenAid Stand Mixers! I've never owned a stand mixer, but if I had one, I would definitely put it to good use. 🙂

~LilSis

December 6, 2009

Why have I been doing things the hard way?  You know how you get used to doing some things the same old way, and don't even think about whether there might be a better or easier way?

I'm not a big fan of kitchen gadgets that have limited uses, with few exceptions like my garlic press.  I've seen these food choppers on TV, and thought they were unnecessary and would just take up my limited kitchen storage space.  But let me tell you, I found out that they're spectacular!  I impulsively bought this Martha Stewart Chopper for $14.99 on Black Friday, and can't believe it took me so long to get one!

I've tried my new chopper on one thing so far, and if that's all I ever use it for, it's money well-spent.  I can't stand how nuts bounce and fly all over the kitchen when you chop them with a knife.  They end up all over the floor and the cats bat them around like little hockey pucks, and then I step on them in my sock feet and say colorful words I shouldn't say.

I don't like to chop nuts in a food processor because they get too fine too fast, even if I pulse.  Now I have the solution: this chopper was made for nuts!  I spread a layer on a paper plate, center the chopper on a pile of them, press down on the plunger 2 or 3 times, then move to a new spot on the plate; repeating til all the nuts are as fine as I want them to be.  You can also use the base of the chopper as a little cutting board for small quantities.

The chopper comes apart for easy cleaning, and doesn't hog too much cupboard real estate.  I'm loving it, and can't wait to try it on onions, herbs, and olives (also bouncy little buggers).

I love Pampered Chef, and they make their own version of the chopper, but it's double the price at $29.50, and I don't see how you need to spend that much for this gadget.

If you're out Christmas shopping and see this chopper at Macy's, get yourself a gift and buy one!  It'll make your holiday baking easier, and who knows what other uses you'll find for it!

~BigSis

December 4, 2009

(Sorry for the strange glare in the photo. I guess I should have made and photographed the cocktail at noon instead of 4 p.m. Then again, if I had started making and tasting these at noon, I might not have ended up with this post!)

Is it just me or does it seem like pomegranates have recently become the “in” thing? It's true that they are loaded with more antioxidants than Cranberry Juice, Concord Grape Juice, and even Red Wine, but why are we suddenly hearing more about the health benefits of pomegranates? I dunno!

When we were kids, we had a friend in the neighborhood that had a Pomegranate tree and we used to eat them all the time, not knowing of course that they were good for us. (I could tell you about the birthmark on my leg that I thought for many years was a stain from a pomegranate seed, but you probably wouldn't believe me.)

Anyway, BigSis and I were lucky enough to receive some trial bottles of POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice from the lovely people at POM Wonderful.  Honestly, these little bottles of POM juice in the produce section of my store have been tempting me for some time, so I'm glad to finally have the chance to try it. And, since I love a tart fruit, I love this juice.

It's really great alone and can also be used as a substitute in a recipe like these Cherry-Pecan Meringue Bars, or even in a salad dressing, but I decided to try it out in a cocktail first. After talking it over with my friend, V, I decided to adapt a recipe of hers from a 2007 Outdoor Living to come up with this Pomegranate Orangetini.

I bet Santa would like to find one of these waiting for him alongside his plate of cookies!

Pomegranate Orangetini
(adapted from Outdoor Living 2007)

2 parts Pomegranate juice
1 part Vodka
splash Triple Sec
splash fresh lime juice
splash Fresca or Ginger Ale
sugar

Prepare a cocktail glass by wetting the rim with a lime and frosting it with sugar. Mix the first four ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, strain into the prepared glass, top with a splash of Fresca or Ginger Ale and garnish with a lime slice.

~LilSis

December 2, 2009

Cherry-Pecan Meringue Bars

Gearing up for the SPCA Bake Sale, I had one more promising recipe to taste-test.  Like the Double Chocolate Peppermint Bars I tested recently, the inspiration again was Carole Walter's “Great Cookies” – a James Beard Award winner and IACP winner.

These bars took a little doing – about an hour to put together – and are a touch too fussy for the Bake Sale.  You have a brown sugar shortbread base, with a cherry filling and a meringue pecan topping.  The combination of flavors was great, especially if you're a nut lover.  All in all, pretty delicious, and lighter than a lot of the things that come out of my oven this time of year!

So, these bars gets thumbs up for flavor but don't get invited to the Bake Sale!  I'll be making Cookie Madness' White Chip Raspberry Bars for the sale again, since they were well-received last year.  You get a similar zip from the berry jam (I use my homemade cranberry jam) with a nutty complement from sliced almonds.  If you double Anna's recipe, it fits nicely in a 13 x 9 pan, and will give you 12 healthy-size bars.

If you have a little bit of time on your hands, do try these Cherry-Pecan Meringue Bars.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Cherry-Pecan Meringue Bars
(adapted from Great Cookies)

Filling:

1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup water
1 cup cherry preserves or jam (I used homemade cranberry jam)
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of salt
2 Tblsp POM Wonderful juice (the original recipe called for Cherry Heering liqueur which is a bit pricey, and unnecessary IMHO)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 13 x 9 pan with nonstick foil.

Place the cherries and water in a small saucepan. Cook, covered, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until cherries are tender and almost all of the liquid has evaporated.

Add the rest of filling ingredients. Bring to a boil. Place the mixture into a food processor and pulse 5-6 times. The mixture should still have some texture, rather than being a puree.  Chill mixture for 30 minutes or up to 1 week.

Crust:

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (I used salted)
1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1-3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

Place the butter in a medium saucepan and barely melt over low heat, remove from heat and allow to finish melting. Set aside to cool to tepid, then stir in brown sugar. Blend in the flour and salt all at once.

Drop 8 spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared pan. Press dough evenly into bottom of pan. Bake at 350 for 15 to 17 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes then spread the cherry filling evenly over crust.

Meringue:

8 oz pecans (2 cups chopped)
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg whites, at room temperature
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place the pecans in a food processor and add 1 tablespoon of the sugar and pulse 3-4 times, or until finely chopped. Set aside. In a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until frothy.  Add the salt.  Increase the speed to medium high and beat until firm but not dry. Add the remaining sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, taking about 1 minute.  Add the vanilla and beat 30 seconds longer to form a shiny meringue. Fold in 1 cup of the chopped pecans.

Spread the meringue evenly over the cherry mixture, smooth the top, and sprinkle with the remaining pecans. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack. Remove from pan, using the foil to lift it out, and cut into bars.

~BigSis

November 30, 2009

You know how some people always say that this or that is a “hot mess”.  Have you ever wondered exactly what a hot mess is?  What does a hot mess look like?  Wonder no more…voila!

This, my friends, is a bonafide hot mess.  No, this is not what I was going for.  Ha!  Not even close.  I was aiming for a variation of Peabody's Hazelnut Honey Cookies.  A few of her commenters mentioned trying almond meal in place of the hazelnut flour.  I thought, well, hecky darn; I have an endless supply of dried almond meal since I've been making my own almond milk for months now.  Why don't I conduct a little experiment with the almond meal substitution, and report back on my marvelous success; much to the delight of Peabody and her readers!

Instead, I have to fess up to my failure hot mess and submit my name to the Baker's Hall of Shame.

Where did I go wrong?  I subbed agave for half of the honey but I don't think that would cause a disaster of this magnitude.  I also added a tablespoon of cocoa powder, and even added an extra half cup of almond meal since the mixture seemed loose.  Little did I know, it had only begun to be loose!

When I first looked into the oven, the cookies seemed to be spreading a tad, but on the second look…good gravy!  I had a sea of bubbling, bumpy, grainy goo.  Not what I was going for at all.  😀 Looks a bit like the surface of the moon or Mars, doesn't it?

I think the problem was with the almond meal.  I probably should have only substituted almond meal for part of the hazelnut flour.  I also might have goofed in using the almond meal in it's coarse state.  Maybe it would have behaved better if I had pulverized it.  I'd certainly like to pulverize it, now that I've wasted those tasty little cherries and other ingredients!

It was a fun little experiment, even though it flopped.  If you try something new, you have to be prepared to fail sometimes, right?  Thank you, Almond Meal Gluten Free “Cookies”.  You gave me the best laugh I've had in ages!  😀

~BigSis

November 29, 2009

I found this recipe for the Flu-Fighter Cookies in the October issue of Food Network Magazine and I tore it out right away because chances are that I'll never get back to that issue again. That's part of my new plan to get caught up on my magazine reading.

Instead of marking the pages of recipes I want to try, I'm just tearing them out and putting them in a folder. I now have a folder for recipes, one for ideas, and one for inspiration. I've also got a binder with sheet protectors in it for all the ‘at home yoga routines' that I tear out of Yoga Journal.

The main reason that I wanted to try these cookies is because they sounded like they were pretty healthy. Food Network calls this an immunity-boosting cookie because of these five powerful ingredients.

• Ginger has some antiviral compounds and its antihistamine properties help combat congestion.

• Cranberries provide antioxidants which help your body fight off cell-damaging molecules.

• Oats are rich in selenium, a nutrient that helps your body fend off harmful free radicals.

• Yogurt helps balance the bacteria in your digestive tract boosting your ability to absorb healthful vitamins and minerals.

• Walnuts (in original recipe) contain zinc that helps keep viruses from reproducing in your body. (Since my son doesn't like walnuts, I substituted sunflower seeds.)

• Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of Vitamin E which has significant anti-inflammatory effects.

I also made a few other changes. The original recipe called for regular flour but I used wheat flour instead. I used honey instead of molasses and I reduced the quantities of each fruit by 1/4 of a cup.

The guys said that they liked the cookies but I'm still not convinced that they weren't just saying that so they didn't hurt my feelings. My cookies did not look like the photo in the magazine AT ALL! Theirs looked pretty thin and somewhat chewy. Mine puffed up and were really thick and cakey. And, I made sure that I ended up with the same quantity of cookies. The recipe said that it made 30 cookies, which is exactly how many I made.

Look at how thick they are!

They were still good and I really liked the fruit and the sunflower seeds on top, but the texture was more like a muffin than a soft, chewy cookie. I heated one up in the microwave for just a few seconds this morning and it was yummy, so I'm going to freeze half of them and just take out one at at time for a quick breakfast.

Flu-Fighter Cookies

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 t. baking powder
3/4 t. baking soda
3/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. freshly grated nutmeg (I used ground nutmeg)
Pinch of ground cloves
1/4 t. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. low-fat plain Greek yogurt
1 T. freshly grated ginger
1 t. finely grated lemon zest
1/2 c. old-fashioned oats
1 c. golden raisins
3/4 c. cranberries
1 c. sunflower seeds

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Add the honey, yogurt, ginger and lemon zest and beat until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the flour mixture to make a sticky batter (do not overmix). Fold in the oats and half of the raisins, cranberries, and sunflower seeds. Mix the remaining dried fruit and nuts in a small bowl and set aside.

Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of batter onto the prepared baking sheets. Top each with some of the reserved dried fruit and nut mixture and chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Bake the cookies until dark golden but still soft, 10 – 12 minutes; cool on a rack. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

~LilSis

November 23, 2009

Holiday Potatoes

I wonder how many homes across America will have mashed potatoes on their dinner tables on Thursday? I know we will. We're really excited this year because we've been invited to spend Thanksgiving with SirHoney's cousin and some of her extended family.

One of my contributions for this Thanksgiving Dinner is mashed potatoes, so of course, I'll be making BigSis' infamous, “go to” mashed potato recipe, Holiday Potatoes.

BigSis has been making this mashed potato recipe for our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations for many years now. When we had all our kids at home, she would start with 10 pounds of potatoes in order to bring two 13 x 9 dishes for my hungry guys!

This recipe is actually in a cookbook that she put together over 20 years ago and she's always called them Holiday Potatoes. If you browse the Internet, you'll find similar recipes called Refrigerator Potatoes or Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes. The quantities vary slightly.

(I made a couple of changes this time. I added the garlic cloves, omitted the nutmeg, and added the fried shallots.)

Holiday Potatoes

9 large potatoes (I used white, but you can use Russet or Yukon Gold) peeled and quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 stick butter, softened
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 c. sour cream
3 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 c. canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place the potatoes and the garlic cloves in a large saucepan and add water to cover. Boil until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat the oil until hot, add the shallots and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they are golden, about 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shallots to a paper towel to drain.

Once tender, drain and place the potatoes in a large bowl. Cut butter and cream cheese into small pieces and add to bowl. Beat with electric mixer until potatoes are fluffy. Beat in sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately or place in a buttered casserole dish and refrigerate.

To reheat, bake for 20 minutes or so at 350 degrees. (I like heating mine until they're a little brown around the edges.) Right before serving, sprinkle the shallots with salt and garnish the potatoes with the shallots.

I really liked the addition of the garlic cloves; it gave the potatoes just a very slight garlic taste. I LOVE garlic, so next time I might even add a couple more cloves.

Making the mashed potatoes this way really saves the hassle of having to beat the potatoes at the very last minute. I'm making mine on Wednesday and will refrigerate overnight, allowing me to work on other things on Thursday morning.

You might remember that this past Easter, BigSis and I thought it would be fun to do something a little different, so we turned our mashed potatoes into this Pink Potatotini.

Pink Potatotini

I won't be making pink potatoes for Thanksgiving, but you just can't go wrong with this recipe for Holiday Potatoes. If you happen to make them for the first time, please let me know what you think! 🙂

~LilSis

November 16, 2009

With our SPCA Bake Sale looming on the calendar, I've been busy planning and test-driving a couple of new recipes.  The last thing I need during the baking frenzy is a recipe that doesn't work!  I have a bunch of tried-and-true favorites that I'm making, but still wandered through my cookbook collection in search of some new goodies to try.  I flipped through Carole Walter's “Great Cookies”, and found a dark chocolaty recipe called Triple Chocolate Peppermint Bars that sounded crazy good.

You make a dark chocolate shortbread base and then top it with a dark chocolate brownie filling that has peppermint schnapps in it.  Then you cover the whole thing with a thin chocolate ganache that has even more schnapps in it.  How bad could that possibly be!  It certainly deserved a test-drive!

I didn't have schnapps so I used peppermint extract instead, and left the ganache layer off since I thought it might be too smeary and messy once it's packaged in a cute little treat bag.  The top got a sprinkle of crushed candy canes instead.

Can I just say YUMMY??  Oh, mommy, these have an incredible chocolate flavor!  Maybe I loved them so much because I adore chocolate shortbread and brownies and peppermint.

Only one little problem…my bars didn't come out looking anything like the photo.  I expected the bars to be kind of chunky and thick, but mine came out very thin; only about 1/2″.  Phooey.  I can't figure out what I might have done wrong, if anything, but I guess it doesn't matter.  I think the bars are too thin and fragile to work well for the bake sale, which is a bummer, but this recipe is a keeper!  If I make them again and don't need to package them, I'll definitely add the ganache layer!

~BigSis

November 15, 2009

Did you know that today is National Bundt Day? I probably wouldn't have known it if I hadn't been reading The Food Librarian. Thirty days ago, The Food Librarian started a project called I Like Big Bundts, a mission to make a different bundt cake every day for 30 days leading up to today. Pretty impressive, if you ask me.

I think this project got my attention because I also prefer baking a cake in a bundt pan. I don't bake a lot of cakes but for some reason I have better luck using a bundt pan versus a regular 13 x 9 pan or round pans. I like bundt pans for some of the same reasons The Food Librarian says she likes baking with a bundt pan.

There are some terrific bundt cake recipes on The Food Librarian that I will try in the future, but for today's cake, I didn't want to start from scratch. (Hopefully we don't have anyone reading this that is appalled by the use of a cake mix.)  🙂

This Eggnog Spice Bundt cake, posted recently by Evil Chef Mom, in her very clever way, really caught my eye and I knew right away that I'd be trying it soon. I don't care for frosting, so I love that this cake is just sprinkled with powdered sugar. I decided that this would be the perfect cake for me to bake today for National Bundt Day.

I've had quite a few baking fiascoes, so I always get a little nervous when I bake something. If that sounds weird, then call me weird, but it's true. Here goes!  (fingers crossed).  🙂

First, I get all my ingredients out and when I went to get my bundt pan, it was no where to be found. Missing In Action. I know I didn't loan it to anyone. WTH? What happens to a bundt pan? I have no idea where it went. Luckily, my friend, D saved the day by loaning me hers.

Next, I proceed with mixing in all the ingredients. I don't know how I managed to raise a child that doesn't like nuts, but since my son doesn't care for them, I omitted the 1 1/3 c. pecans that were called for in the original recipe. (I would have loved the pecans in this cake.) Since I omitted the pecans, I felt like adding a few little extra ingredients.

So, I added the grated carrots and zucchini and since I love cinnamon, I added a little cinnamon. Then, I found a vanilla bean in the pantry and thought that sounded good, so I scraped out the inside of a half of a vanilla bean and threw that in.

Since I added extra moisture with all the grated carrots and zucchini, I decided to cut back the yogurt to 3/4 cup instead of a cup.

So far, I think it's going pretty well. I've got it all mixed together, so I pour the batter into the sprayed bundt pan. I glance over the recipe one last time and realize that I didn't take the eggnog out of the fridge so it didn't get added in. Sheesh! (No wonder I thought the batter was a little thick. You would think that I could have glanced at the recipe before I put the batter in the pan!)

I dump everything back into my mixing bowl and add the eggnog. Of course, the batter has some of the Pam spray on it at this point, but I didn't figure it would hurt anything, so I just wiped the pan out, sprayed it again and poured in the batter. And, guess what? It turned out great! (Hallelujah!!)

The bottom line is that this cake turned out very moist and spongy and tasty and yummy and everyone loved it!

Trust me when I say that this is not something my family sees on our dinner table very often.

Eggnog Spice Bundt Cake
(adapted from Evil Chef Mom)

1 (18 1/4 ounce) box of carrot cake or spice cake mix
1 (4-serving) box instant cheesecake pudding
3/4 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup light eggnog
3 eggs
3/4 c. grated zucchini
1/2 c. grated carrots
1/2 vanilla bean
1/4 t. cinnamon
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a nonstick Bundt pan with cooking spray. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, yogurt, oil, eggnog, and eggs in a large bowl. Mix until creamy. Stir in grated carrots, zucchini, cinnamon, and vanilla bean. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. When cool, dust with powdered sugar.

One thing I really love about a bundt cake is that you can get away with serving it for breakfast. It's almost considered more of a coffee cake. How perfect would this be served for breakfast along with a nice cup of coffee?

~LilSis

November 13, 2009

I've been searching for a vegetarian – or ideally a vegan – alternative to pork bacon that is crispy and smoky and delicious.  And by the way…I'm still looking!  Along the way, I found and tried an odd little product called Bacon Salt.  To be honest, I didn't love it although I gave it kudos for originality.  🙂

The Bacon Salt people saw my review, and emailed me to see if I'd like to try the natural variety of the salt, as well as their Baconnaise, which is a vegetarian bacon-flavored mayonnaise type spread.  Well, this girl just saw Zumanity, which scared the tweet out of me, thanks for asking.  If I can survive that and live to tell about it, surely I'm tough enough to handle bacon-flavored mayo and more Bacon Salt, right?  Right?  Ehhh, ummm, sure…?

The bad news first. I still am not a fan of Bacon Salt.  Frankly, I think the “unnatural” version tastes better than the natural one.  The natural variety just tastes harsh and fake to me.

However!  The Baconnaise is another story.  The flavor is not bad.  It's smoky, savory and bacon-ny, but pretty darn salty too.  I started thinking of how it might be used other than just lightly spread on a tomato and lettuce sandwich.  I think potato salad would be a good fit since potatoes drink up a lot of salt, but I don't know how to make less than a giant washtub-sized vat of it so I settled on deviled eggs.

Baconnaise Deviled Eggs
(vegetarian)

5 or 6 large eggs
1 tblsp or more Baconnaise (can dilute with some plain mayo)
2 tsp dill pickle relish
1 tsp spicy brown mustard
Pepper to taste

Place eggs in a saucepan, and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and boil for 20 minutes.  Run cold water over eggs until cool enough to peel.  Peel, rinse and dry eggs.

Cut eggs in half lengthwise and remove the yolks to a small bowl.  Add all the other ingredients and mix well.  Add a little more Baconnaise to reach the consistency you like.  Fill each egg half, and refrigerate.  BigSis Note: I like to sprinkle my eggs with Penzeys Shallot Pepper before eating them.

The final verdict?  Baconnaise is pretty good, but it's a little strong for me.  I'd recommend mixing it with regular mayo to smooth it out a smidge.  I think that's what I'll do the next time I make these eggs, or a vat o' tater salad!

~BigSis