In the next few posts, I will write about my favorite Christmas cookie recipes that I tried this year. Here are a few pictures from my 2009 cookie spread! I hope you enjoyed the holidays and got everything you asked for (I did – a Le Creuset French oven and skillet)!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Here are some pictures from our celebration. What’s your favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal? Does your family include an “untraditional” dish in their Thanksgiving meal? Leave a comment and let me know! My family has sausage as a side dish (not sure when/how that started: I hate sausage!).
Golden brown turkey…
Dad making gravy (in between snacking on the turkey neck)…
Rotisserie chickens from the grocery store are a great standby meal for those nights you don’t have time to cook dinner. STOP! Don’t throw the leftovers away! Make your own chicken stock. This was my first time doing this and it was super easy!
First, throw the bones and leftover meat into a pot. Add whatever vegetables and herbs you have in your refrigerator (I used carrots, celery, onion, rosemary, and thyme).
Cover with water. Add some salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer over medium low heat for a few hours, until your house smells like Thanksgiving.
Strain the stock into containers for future use. As you can see in the picture below, you will need to skim the fat off the top. Use the homemade stock instead of the grocery store version!
When making this ginger pumpkin bread the other week, I accidentally bought a 28 ounce can of pumpkin puree, instead of the 14 ounce can I needed. So this is how I used up that extra pumpkin! Scones are a nice treat for breakfast (or anytime of the day). You can find the recipe for these scones on Vanilla Sugar. She has some awesome photos on her site.
Do you like peanut butter? Do you like chocolate? Do you like rice crispy bars? If your answers are “yes,” then you have to make these bars. I purchased this awesome cookbook earlier this summer and it’s now one of my favorites. I highly recommend getting yourself a copy of the book. I think these bars turned out pretty awesome. I sent half these bars home with Sara Beth (SB and Marc, if you’re reading this, I hope you liked them!)
Peanut Butter Crispy Bars Makes 9, from the Baked cookbook
For the crispy crust:
1 3/4 cups rice krispies
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons melted butter
For the peanut butter layer:
5 oz milk chocolate, chopped
1 cup creamy peanut butter
For the chocolate layer:
3 oz dark chocolate
1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
4 tablespoons butter
Crust:
Spray a 8×8 inch baking pan with cooking spray. Put the cereal in a bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, stir together 1/4 cup water, the sugar, and corn syrup. Cook over medium-high heat until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage (235 degrees – use a candy thermometer). Remove from heat, stir in the butter and pour over cereal. Quickly stir together and press into the prepared pan.
Peanut butter layer:
Over a double boiler (place a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water) melt the chocolate and peanut butter together until smooth. Pour over the crust. Put into the refrigerator until firm.
Chocolate layer:
Again over a double boiler, melt the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter, stirring until smooth. Pour over the peanut butter layer.
Place the bars in the refrigerator until the chocolate layer hardens. You may have to let them come to room temperature so that you can cut them into squares and serve.
This is my mother-in-law, Kathy’s recipe for apple crisp. John loves her recipe best, since he doesn’t like apple crisp with oats in the topping. I think the topping is the secret to why it’s so good! All the brown sugar melts and becomes all caramelized. (I wanted to say caramelly, but I don’t think that’s a word!) Serve with ice cream – I recommend Haagen Dazs vanilla, which is my favorite. This recipe works great cut in half or fourths for a quick dessert for a few people.
Apple Crisp Adapted slightly from my mother-in-law, Kathy
6 cups apples, peeled and chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/8 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
A pinch each of nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves
Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
Combine apples, lemon juice, flour, sugar, and spices. Put in greased 9×13 baking dish.
Mix the remaining ingredients using a pastry blender or your fingers, mixing until crumbs form. Spread over apples. A few nuts may be added if desired. Bake for approximately 1 hour at 350 degrees, or until the top is crispy and golden brown and the apples are soft.
My friend Rachel and I spent an afternoon at the apple orchard and baking apple goodies. Rachel is an amazing cook and an awesome friend. We stopped over to her parents’ house (her mom Lois is also a great cook) to pick up an apple peeler-corer-slicer that came in handy for all those apples we had to prep! (Oh, and we got some free lunch out of the visit.) We made quite a mess of my tidy kitchen, but no worries, it’s all tidy again!
Here’s some pictures to document our accomplishments…
Applesauce – super easy to make from scratch
Apple Pie - look at that PERFECT crust Rachel made – amazing!
And Apple Muffins – these got taken to work for my co-workers
I’d love to hear what are you doing to enjoy all the awesome flavors of Fall!
When the weather turns cold, I crave comfort foods. How about you? Here’s the perfect thing to satisfy your cravings. Watch out – I cut this recipe in half and it still made way too much! I’ll link to the original recipe in case you want to feed a crowd, but if you’re cooking for fewer than 6 people, I’ve halved the recipe for you. The key to a smooth cheese sauce is warming the milk before making the sauce (thanks, Martha, for the tip!).
Macaroni & Cheese Adapted from Martha Stewart, Feeds about 6
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 1.5 qt casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a small dish and add the bread crumbs and stir to coat. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat (stir occasionally). Heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, stir and cook for one minute. Slowly pour in the warm milk, and whisk constantly. Continue to cook and the mixture should bubble and become thick. Remove from heat and add the cheese, reserving 1/4 cup. Stir until the cheese is melted. Set aside.
Cook the pasta to al dente, then drain and mix with the cheese sauce. Pour into the prepared casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheese and the breadcrumbs. Bake at 375 degrees until warm throughout and bubbly, about 20-30 minutes. The top should be nice and golden brown. Serve with a salad or broccoli.
Snickerdoodles are my dad’s favorite cookie. Have you ever wondered where the name “snickerdoodles” came from? Well, I looked it up in order to enlighten you, but it turns out there are a bunch of theories of where the name comes from so unfortunately I won’t be able to pass any useless knowledge on to you today.
These cookies are fairly simple to make and I’m sharing my mom’s recipe with you today. One of the great things about these cookies is that you probably have all these ingredients in your pantry (although I did not have shortening because I don’t use that much for baking).
Snickerdoodles Makes about 2 dozen
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
For topping:
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs. In a separate bowl, mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and then mix until combined. Shape into balls using a tablespoon or small ice cream scoop. Roll in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place on cookie sheets and bake 10-12 minutes.
Have I mentioned you NEED one of these? This small ice cream scooper is probably one of my favorite gifts ever! It helps ensure your cookies are evenly sized which makes them look nice and pretty.
Here’s what they look like before they are baked… Ok, you also NEED a Silpat. It’s a silcone-coated baking sheet which helps things not stick to your pans. Another one of my favorite things!
Do you use your crock pot much? I rarely use mine. John will sometimes use it to keep chili warm (he makes the best chili!!) but we don’t use it much for meals. I don’t often make recipes more than once because I like to keep trying new ones – but this is one that I thought was worth making a second time! Basically you just throw everything in the crock pot in the morning and then when you get home you have an awesome meal to eat with no prep work!
Tex-Mex Chicken Chili Serves 4, adapted from Martha Stewart
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 jar mild or medium salsa
2 tablespoons chopped chilies (from a can, in adobo sauce)
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup chicken stock
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 small red onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
Stir together the beans, salsa, chilies, flour, and chicken stock in your crock pot. Place chicken on top, season with salt and pepper. Scatter onion and bell pepper on top. Cook on low for 8 hours. (Don’t open the lid or stir) Take out the chicken, and shred (using 2 forks) if desired, then return the chicken to the pot. Serve in bowls, topped with a little sour cream on top and corn muffins on the side. Enjoy this perfect dish for a chilly fall day!
