Cardamom Snaps

These are the best new cookie recipe I have found.  They make 4 dozen of the most perfectly round and yummily spiced cookies.  They are Cardamom snaps as opposed to ginger snaps.  Cardamom is the same spice they use in chi tea, so they taste like a chi tea cookie, but they are also molasses based so they have holiday cheer as well. Make them, you will fall in love!

Cardamom Snaps Recipe modified from here. 


Ingredients3/4 c       Shortening1c           packed brown sugar1/4c        molasses1             egg2 1/4c     all-purpose flour1tsp       Baking soda2tsp       ground cardamom1tsp       ground cinnamon1/4 c       granulated sugar for rolling
dIRECTIONS1.pRE-HEAT OVEN TO 375.  iN THE BOWL OF AN ELECTRIC MIXER CREAM TOGETHER SHORTENING AND BROWN SUGAR.  aDD MOLASSES AND EGG AND MIX WELL
2. IN A separate MEDIUM BOWL SIFT TOGETHER DRY INGREDIENTS, FLOUR, BAKING SODA, 1 1/2 TSP OF CARDAMOM, AND CINNAMON
3. ADD DRY INGREDIENTS TO WET INGREDIENTS UNTIL JUST COMBINED. IN A BOWL MIX GRANULATED SUGAR AND REMAINING CARDAMOM. SCOOP DOUGH INTO ONE INCH BALLS AND ROLL THEM IN THE SUGAR MIXTURE.  pLACE ON PARCHMENT LINED COOKIE SHEET 2 INCHES APART. 
4.  BAKE FOR 8-10 MINUTES ROTATING HALF WAY THROUGH UNTIL COOKIES ARE SLIGHTLY CRACKED ON TOP. COOL ON COOKIE SHEET FOR TWO MINUTES, THEN TRANSFER TO A WIRE COOLING RACK AND COOL completely. 

Peppermint Truffles

So these bad boys were easy peasy.  If you are looking for a quick holiday treat to take to a last minute party, or edible gifts.. these are for you.  Rich loved them. I included them in my yearly goody bags to labmates and they were also a hit.  Make them, Love them, Share them.

Peppermint Truffles Recipe

Ingredients

11 oz chocolate chips (semisweet)

1/2c  heavy cream

1 ½ cups of crushed Peppermint Andes (you can find these on the baking isle,  i put them in my food processor for a few seconds to make them smaller)

Directions

1. Place chocolate and heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water (double boiler). Let chocolate and cream heat up for 2 minutes untouched. After 2 minutes remove bowl from heat and mix till smooth, may need to add it back to the heat a few times, but do it just until smooth, do not overheat or it will burn. Pour finished mixture into a flat casserole pan. Place in the freezer until set and cold but not frozen, about 15-20 min 
2. Remove chilled truffle mixture. Using a small cookie scoop (1inch), scoop out chocolate rounds. Finish forming truffles by hand and place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Quickly, they will start to melt in your hands. Roll truffles in crushed Peppermint Andes. Give covered truffles one last roll between the palms of your hand to gently press the crushed Peppermint Andes into the truffle.  Place back into fridge until set, about 10 min.
3. Enjoy!

Banana Gingerbread

Ah-mazing.. that is what this bread is.  Really there is not much else to say.  You just need to make it.  As a side note, this bread has no eggs in it... so dont double check or add eggs.. there are no eggs in this recipe.

Recipe Modified from here.


Banana Gingerbread 
Makes 2 loaves


Ingredients 
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp cinnamon 
1/2 tsp allspice 
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 cup packed light brown sugar
4 large very ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup molasses
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 c vegetable oil


Directions
1.  Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two loaf pans
2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom and nutmeg.
3. In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, banana, molasses, buttermilk and oil. 
4. slowly add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon (or paddle attachment) until just combined.
5. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
6. Cool loaves in pan for 10 minutes, then cool completely out of loaf pan on a cooling rack.

Christmas Dinner Menu

So this year is the first year in 4 years that we will have had Christmas with family.  Rich's aunt and uncle just moved near us (about 4 hours away) but that is way closer than any of our other family and does not include horendously expensive plane tickets.  So we are going up to his families house for the Christmas weekend.  Sadly aunt works in retail and will be working up til 6pm Christmas eve, so I decided I would do Christmas eve dinner, and she could do her traditional Christmas brunch the next day.  That way a nice warm meal is waiting for the family after what I am sure is the worst day in retail next to the day after Thanksgiving.  So I have planned out the menu for 5 adults

Appetizer
Cheese Ball - 2 packs of cream cheese, 6 pieces of bacon chopped, scalions chopped.. mix together, form a ball and roll in pecan pieces. easy peasy

Main
Prime Rib
Pancetta Braised Brussel Sprouts
Stewed Apples
Mashed Taters

Dessert
Southern Sweet Potato Pie

This will be my first shot at Prime Rib.. I think i might use the Alton Brown method, or the Easy method.. it is yet to be determined.  Costco sells pre-seasoned prime rib, so that is probably what I will choose.  I have decided to choose side dishes that can be made on the stove top as the prime rib is not to be disturbed in the oven.  The pie I will make the day before or first thing in the morning.

The dogs will get kibble and maybe a few nibbles of prime rib, cause i love them.

How is your holiday menu coming along???

Bacon Party! with pirntables

Remember my bacon party idea board with Kevin Bacon invite??? Well here is what you have been waiting for.. Rich's Bacon Party, and I have even been so nice to include the printables I made so that you too can enjoy a bacon party all your own. So here are the Pics and links to the recipes I used.. and of course the bacon party printables... ENJOY, we sure did.

Lets first start with the cocktails.. of course we got the Bakon Vodka, we made bacon apple crisps with them.. it was good, but interesting.

Bacon Water.. ok, this was the only thing that did not have bacon in it.. but I had to put bacon on the label any way

 Bacon Pralines .. yum

Bacon jam.. this one was actually really good, we served it with cornbread muffins

Bacon Popcorn.. not the biggest hit... but i loved the display

 Backdrop!  I made pig baloons with pink balloons sharpie and pink napkins. The background is paper bags, the banners I made with red cardstock and using whiteout tape and sewing the pieces of "bacon" together.

Loved this sly pig

Bacon meatball sliders, were such a big hit!!!

 BLT cups.  No recipe for this.. I cut circles out of flour tortillas and baked them till crisp in a muffin pan, added BLT and bacon ranch to it.. it was a nice refresher to all of the heavy food

Bacon cheddar bread.. I doubled the recipe and used a bunt pan

Bacon Goat cheese pops... soooooo good

 Bacon wrapped potatoes

 Whole table!!

In the middle you can see the bacon maple doughnuts.. I dont know how I didnt end up with a close up of them.. but they were sooo sooo sooo good, they were definitely my favorite item of the party.

Printables can be downloaded from here. I printed everything on red cardstock. If you download them as a word document they are fully editable!
Keep Calm
Food labels
Water Bottle labels
Party Circles

Hope you enjoy your own bacon party!

Thanksgiving Decor

So at the last minute we decided to host Thanksgiving.  So I got premade printables and got to work on the menu in 6 days I put together a Thanksgiving for 8.5 people.  Rich experimented with a smoked turkey breast, I roasted one just in case.  I tried a new sausage cornbread stuffing that was amazing.  We had sweet taters, mashed taters, homemade cranberry sauce (recipe on the bag), my moms fruit salad, pancetta braised leeks, a guest brought broccoli casserole. For dessert we had pumpkin pie and cranberry upsidedown cake.  Here are the pics

Christmas inspired by Sweets

Ok, so have you heard of Bakerella?  You know those cake pops I make all the time?  Well she started them.  She just posted cute whimsical gingerbread and snowman heads.

I would like to say that this whimsical  take on Christmas is one of my favorite ideas. I really wish I could afford to go out and buy all new Christmas decor for the house and make it look like these cookies. I have decided that if we end up moving cross country again after we are done with grad school, i will sell all current decor and start all over with new "candyland" decor.   Well not all of my decor has to go, I already have giant candies and big balls that can stay.

Back to bakerella... a few years ago, she attended the best Christmas party ever.. I wish I could get an invitation.  She went to a house in which I aspire to decorate like.  Here are some inspirational whimsical Christmas decor pictures for you to drool over.

Oh and might I mention that normally her kitchen looks like this...

A pink island and colorful candy decor.  I have since asked Rich if I could have a kitchen like this in our first house... he said yes!!  Pink island, here I come.  Ok in a few years when we have jobs and money for a house and a bucket of glossy pink paint.

Just in case that wasn't enough Christmas whimsy for you, here are some more ideas I have my eye on.

I want my house to look like you walked inside of a gingerbread house, or into whoville.. I am drooling over theses images today.

Hope your Christmas decor is magical!

Julia Child's Cheese Souffle

As many of you might be.. I am enamored with Julia Child and I too own the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  While flipping through the book one day I decided to attempt the fabled Cheese Souffle!

It was spectacular... I would advise to have many people over, otherwise you will eat half of it yourself and be cheese sick.  It is so cheesey and fluffy and warm and full of homemade goodness.. make it!

Ingredients 

• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 2.50 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 0.50 teaspoon paprika
• 0.50 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 4 large egg yolk
• 5 large egg white
• 1 cup gruyere cheese

Directions

• -Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 400 degrees.
• -Butter 6-cup (1-1/2 quart) souffle dish. Add Parmesan cheese and tilt dish, coating bottom and sides.
• -Warm milk in heavy small saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming.
• -Meanwhile, melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until mixture begins to foam and loses raw taste, about 3 minutes; do not allow mixture to brown).
• -Remove saucepan from heat; let stand 1 minute.Pour in warm milk, whisking constantly until very thick, 2 to 3 minutes.
• -Remove from heat; whisk in paprika, salt, and nutmeg.
• -Add egg yolks 1 at a time, whisking to blend after each addition.
• -Scrape souffle base into large bowl.
• -Cool to lukewarm. DO AHEAD; can be made 2 hours ahead.
• -Cover and let stand at room temperature.
• -Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in another large bowl until stiff but not dry.
• -Fold 1/4 of whites into lukewarm or room temperature souffle base to lighten.
• -Fold in remaining whites in 2 additions while gradually sprinkling in Gruyere cheese.
• -Transfer batter to prepared dish.
• -Place dish in oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.
• -Bake until souffle is puffed and golden brown on top and center moves only slightly when dish is shaken gently, about 25 minutes (do not open oven door during first 20 minutes).
• 
  
• Serve immediately.

Family Cookies

Earlier this year I got on a sugar cookie kick and mad a whole bunch of specialized cookies.  I customized these ones for each family member. Sorry for the such dark photos.

Here is the whole batch I always use this recipe and tutorial 

Johnny Cash cookies for my moms husband

80's cookies for my mom, she really cant get enough of the 80's

Soccer Cookies for my little step brother who is 8

And "groovy" cookies for my 11 year old sister who is into that stuff right now

Lowcountry Highrollers

One of my good friends is a member of the local roller derby team, and they have a bake sale to support thier venue rental and other costs of the game.  I volunteered many times to make these goodies.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

 Sugar Cookie roller skates

New Years Last Year

 Ok, so this one is really really late.. but whatever.  This party was totally last minute and cost maybe $15, everything else I had on hand

Banner was made out of black and white scrapbook paper and I printed out the words on regular paper. I also used the paper for labels, wraping around the vases and labeling water bottles (not shown) (cost $5). Blower set was at wal-mart for $2

The whole party was inspired by these cookies that I just had to make when I saw them ( Cost = free, I always have flower sugar eggs and butter around) recipe

 Centerpiece was vases I had laying around placed on a cake stand with black and white ornaments I got in the after christmas sales for $1

Rum Balls, always a holiday favorite (rum = $4)

 Chocolate dipped marshmallow penguins ( marshmallows $2, chocolate was on hand)

 Upclose of cookies

Oreo truffles ( oreos $3, cream cheese and chocolate on hand)

Ok so that is like $17, sue me.  We also bought champagne but everything else was byob.

Proof that you can have a low cost great looking party in 2 days!!!!