Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

For the first time in my short 25 years, I did not put up Christmas lights. Our little Norfolk pine is as naked as the day it first sprouted. There are no garland-laced IKEA bookshelves nor a scrap of lurking mistletoe. Scandinavian Christmas items at least accent our kitchen table as “A’s” mother helped boost sagging spirits. Very few Christmas-themed blog posts start out on a dour note, but this is my blog and it’s within my rights to ramble about my feelings, dammit! If we’re going to really get to talking about feelings, I’m not sure how I feel about Christmas this year. Yes, I’m excited, but not for the actual act of Christmas. I’m excited to see my family for one full, rare week. Presents? Eh. Giving them is what gets me going but all I “want” to receive are a few nice necessities that I can’t afford to buy all at once. 

But feeling this way about Christmas fills me with guilt. I’m usually forcing Christmas music and movies down “A’s” throat; but this year even I have to find a small stash of motivation just to press play. To put the nonexistent star atop the pine-like tree, there is apparently a national goat butter shortage. Not only have I stalked every grocery store in Madison, I've called every local goat farm to see if butter is something they do (obviously, it's not). I’ve had time to deal with the tragedy over the past month, but as butter is the main ingredient in cookies 99.9% of the time, I cant even make my usual mountain of treats! Maybe that’s at the root of my bah humbug?

Who knows. But I do know I need to get into the Christmas spirt, and about five minutes ago. To find the spirit of Christmas past, I had to go basic. Feelings of warmth, love and chocolate. With a seasonal flavor thrown in for good measure.

Santa Claus wrote me a prescription and it’s for homemade peppermint marshmallows, folks! I can feel the Christmas creeping back in to my grinch sized heart and dreams of marshmallow faeries filling my head. Doggonit! This did the trick - I’m CURED! Watch out though, to keep my spirits high, I may have the plow through some of these darlings daily from now until next Wednesday!  

Peppermint Marshmallows

Adapted from Arts and Tarts

Ingredients:

• 3 packages unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup cold water, divided
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• ¾ to 1 ½ teaspoons peppermint extract
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• Oil (grapeseed or canola preferred) 
• Food coloring

Directions:

1. Pour ½ cup of the water into the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment and sprinkle gelatin over the surface; set aside.
2. In a small saucepan combine the remaining ½ cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Over medium high heat and with a candy thermometer attached to the side of the pan, cook the mixture until it reaches 240 degrees F. Immediately remove the pan from the heat once temperature is reached.
3. Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once all the syrup has been added, increase the speed to high and continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the peppermint extract during the last minute of whipping, starting with the smaller amount and increasing according to taste and desired strength.
4. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans:
5. Sift together the confectioners’ sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Using a paper towel, spread the oil on the pans until it is well coated. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use (I had to mix up a bit more as my marshmallows were on the stickier side).
6. Pour the lukewarm mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan.  Drop about 6 drops of food coloring around the surface of the marshmallows and use a toothpick or knife to swirl the red into the marshmallows. Dust the top with remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for about 24 hours. Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and use oiled scissors to cut into desired shapes. Once cut, dredge the marshmallows with the remaining powdered sugar/corn starch mixture. Shake the marshmallows in a fine mesh sieve to remove excess clumps.
7. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

While we are solidly in the Christmas creep season, I might as well throw in a Halloween treat to balance things out. I will never be one of those food bloggers who post their themed food in a timely fashion. Laziness takes over and I make every excuse to not edit photos or write a post. Motivation seems to hit me a few weeks down the road and way outside of the timeframe of the holiday at hand. 

As I am officially on the office Fun Committee, I decided to turn our work Halloween party up to eleven with some homemade cake. While most people won’t consider bundts to be “fun,” I do live in the Midwest kids. Things are different here and I embrace it. The cake was attacked with gusto and I barely managed to save a sliver to take home to “A.” There were few leftovers to speak of, but this cake is so moist, you wouldn’t have any issue letting it sit around for a few days. 

So here I have a Halloween cake for you. Complete with chocolate spiderwebs and spooky stars. Maybe store it away for next year or forgo the black & orange coloring and call it a Thanksgiving cake. Keep this blog post a secret and no one will know the difference. 

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Adapted from Whipped The Blog

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) EarthBalance “Butter”, softened, plus additional for greasing the pan
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting the pan
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups (or 1 15 oz can) solid pack pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 large eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. “Butter” and flour bundt pan.
2. Make your “buttermilk”: combine the almond milk and apple cider vinegar in a bowl. Let stand for at least 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, pumpkin spice and salt in a bowl. Whisk together pumpkin, “buttermilk” and vanilla in another bowl.
4. Beat EarthBalance, oil and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, then add eggs and beat 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth.
5. Spoon batter into pan. Shake a few times to be sure to remove any bumps then bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then invert rack over cake and invert cake onto rack. Cool 10 minutes more.

Tomato-Olive Stuffing

Sometimes it's hard to get into the holiday spirit and I guess this would be one of those times. As a girl from Michigan who was frequently spoiled rotten with a fresh blanket of flakes every few days in December, the adjustment to holiday weather in Seattle has been less than jolly. How am I supposed to feel Christmas in my fingers and my toes when it's a balmy 45 degrees and  the ground is damp with freshly fallen rain drops? Bah! HUMBUG!  

Tonight I went for a long walk by all the fancy houses in Queen Anne while listening to my favorite podcast's holiday episodes. I took pictures of silly houses and a decked out Space Needle! My cheeks got rosy! I even had to put gloves on…  Eventually, I felt some of the spirit slip through me, but I don't have the same urge as in years past to listen to non-stop Christmas music from the day after Thanksgiving to the evening of the 25th. I think I might be broken.

No matter, I am preforming some self-therapy and forcing myself to listen to Sufjan Stevens' Christmas album and throwing in the classic Bing Crosby for good measure too. I might even see what holiday offerings Netflix has. No matter what, when I fly into Michigan a week from now, I will be jollier than the man in red himself!

Regardless of if you're a little like me or you're pacifically one of Santa's elves, I'd like to think this stuffing is perfect for the holidays. I personally made it for Friendsgiving (which was ironically a week after real Thanksgiving), which is my mind is one of the greatest holidays of them all! Friends, lots of wine, more food than we know what to do with and college football playoffs? HECK YES! We know how much I love Friendsgiving so we should move onto the stuffing… it's amazing. Completely out of left field and out of the ordinary amazing. After poking around the internet for a few days looking for a stuffing recipe that didn't make me think of a 1950's Christmas television special, I finally came across something that didn't just call for butter and bread. No no, this had olives, tomatoes and rosemary, oh my! Even though I'm positive tomatoes aren't the least bit in season in Seattle, I was able to find a beautiful box of cherry tomatoes ready for roasting.

While Thanksgiving has passed, Christmas is fast approaching.  If you need a dish that reminds you of far-off flavors but in the comfort of your home, look no further. And hey, we can pretend it's totally healthy because it has vegetables in it and stuff.

Tomato-Olive Stuffing
Adapted from The Bitten Word

Ingredients

• 1 loaf crusty Italian bread, cut into 3/4-inch pieces (approx. 8 cups)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for baking dish
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced medium
• 2 large celery stalks, diced medium
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
• 1 cup roughly chopped pitted Kalamata olives
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with racks in middle and lower thirds. On two rimmed baking sheets, arrange bread in a single layer. Toast until dry and pale golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool. 
2. Meanwhile, lightly oil a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. In a large skillet, heat olive oil and cook, stirring frequently, until onion and celery are softened, about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes, olives, rosemary and red-pepper flakes and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Transfer to a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.
3. Add parsley, eggs, and bread; stir to combine. Add broth in two additions, stirring until absorbed after each addition. Season generously with salt and pepper and transfer stuffing to dish. Bake on middle rack until deep golden brown on top, 25 to 30 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes before serving. 
4. Great for leftovers, both hot or cold!

Apple Spice Blondies

The reviews are in on yet another fall-themed apple dessert and there are more than a few sticky thumbs-up in the crowd. Keep in mind there might have been a slight error in tallying the votes as I'm pretty sure a lot of the ladies at girls night were licking their fingers. I know I was constantly licking spoons and stealing apples out of the batter when I was mixing up the dough. Tell me, what is better than apples coated cinnamon-y fall-flavored batter? Nothing? Nothing. That's right - you found my Achilles heel. So anyone who is trying to trick a favor or a slice of cake out of me… use this piece of information wisely.

I came across the recipe when I was trying to look for an alternative to baking a whole apple pie. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite desserts out there and little is more rewarding than seeing a homemade pie emerge from of the oven. But you see people, it's a lot of work and waiting. The dough, the baking… the resisting of eating apples covered in spices and sugar straight out of the mixing bowl. Sometimes a girl just needs a break. Good thing these apple spice blondies are a pretty good pie substitute without sacrificing flavor.

Before I leave you to the recipe, a piece of wisdom: don't ship your sister these blondies 3,000 miles wrapped in only some tin foil and enclosed in a measly flat rate envelope.  It's true, they will show up on her door room stoop flattened like a sheet of paper and virtually inedible.  At least she got a sassy card with the package…

Thin Mint Star Cookies

I bet you noticed something is a little different.  No, I didn't get a haircut.  No, I didn't lose 10 pounds (I wish!).  But YES, thank you for noticing, I did redesign The Ginger Cook.  I obviously wanted to keep the whole ginger (read: redhead) color present, but I wanted to strip everything down.  I worked to achieve this by making the background a crisp white and the accent colors two shades of "ginger" and gray.  I made all the "badges" and the header using pixelmator (i.e. Mac photoshop) and in my perfect little dream world, I'm going to update the banner for every season.  Let's see if this will actually happen or not.

All in all, I would say I am really happy with the redesign!  Yes, there are still some things that need to be worked out, but quite honestly, I really need to take a break from coding.  I am not a coder and will never be.  Screaming at my laptop at 2am happened more times than I would like to admit.  There was a lot of "BLERG!  Why won't the font just change??'  U of M, the few web design classes I took did not prepare me for doing it all on my own.  I'm sorry, but it's the truth.  I guess we can just call it even and say you gave me the life skills to be able to be mildly web savvy all by myself.

I would like you apologize, though, for posting a ('holiday') cookie recipe well after Christmas and while most of you are in the throes of your "get healthy" New Years resolutions.  I swear, I'm not trying to be cruel!  I'm trying to be healthy too.  Expect a lot of soups and lentil concoctions in the upcoming weeks.

Though, aren't thin mints good for the soul year round?  Yes, that's right.  These cookies taste almost exactly like thin mints!  We can't be completely dependent on Girl Scouts, they control the cookie market too heavily.  Break out of their controlling grasps and make to your own girl scout cookies - show them who's boss!!  Girl Scouts, I mean you no harm.  I was one until I was in middle school, but your cookies are too good to be seasonal.  It's very frustrating.

Cranberry Marzipan BonBon's

I think a better name for these would be "Most Addictive German Candies EVER" (it's what I have so eloquently called them for the past year).  I realize that this is not the most politically correct way to describe a dessert, but oh boy oh boy, I can't stop eating these once I've started.  A few nights ago, I gave a plant of cookies away and the guy said "these are so flavorful, you almost need a tall glass of milk to go with them!"  In my little world, that's a pretty good compliment!


I going to make a wild assumption and guess that you don't know Bjoern.  Well, other than my parents and friends from Michigan, most of you don't know of his glory.  Bjoern and I met within the first few weeks of my senior year at U of M; he was a Fulbright scholar trucked over from Germany to study naval architecture and marine engineering.  Needless to say we hit it off very quickly and he instantly became one of my dearest friends (well, at least my dearest German friend, and this is a larger category than one might think!)  For Christmas last year, he gave me a tin full of these bonbons and I have been addicted ever since.  This was a decently sized tin, capable of holding at least 20 or so treats and I actually had to hide them from myself.  I put them atop my armoire, made them extremely difficult to get to and they still disappeared in less than 5 days.  The ghost of Christmas weight gain was once again rearing her ugly head.

As you can imagine, I have been begging Bjoern for this recipe ever since then.  He just sent it to me.  JUST.  His excuse was that the recipe was in German (he translated it for me) and all the measurements were metric.  I could have worked with that; I would have MADE it work.  Last week he sent me a translated copy of the recipe, still in metric but I weigh everything anyways, and I got to baking that night.  Even now I have to to tell myself "No, these cookies are for other people.  Not for you to eat.  Think of all the joy you'll bring people!"  Then I promptly eat one more.

Red Wine Cranberry Sauce

Last night was the first annual Friendsgiving, which is, in my opinion, the greatest holiday of all time.  If you haven't yet heard of Friendgiving (for shame!), I will tell you.  It is a holiday that celebrates friendship and Thanksgiving; a feast of Thanksgiving fare with friends, plus lots and lots of wine.  No seriously, lots of wine starting at 2pm and ending well after the desserts of done.

For the feast, I as assigned to bring a pumpkin cheesecake and green beans… but being who I am I also brought cranberry sauce, pumpkin chocolate fudge and homemade whipped cream.   But you know what?  I don't think anyone was complaining, and if they were, I didn't really care because more food equals more material for my blog.

If this is any indication of how much food I ate, I had to wear a high waisted skirt as to accommodate my Thanksgiving belly.  Julie brined a whole turkey (which I tried a little bit of!), Rachel made mashed potatoes and rolls, Gabe and Christine made cranberry relish and the boys brought a lot of tree previously mentioned wine.  After we were all done eating until we couldn't get up (really, we had to crawl out of our chairs), we played some makeshift charades using "Apples to Apples."  Confused?  We would use the 'red' cards and act out what was on them.  Some one were easy to guess like "diamond"… but it's a little more difficult to act out "Meg Ryan."

Next came dessert… oh boy.  There were three types of pie and that doesn't count the fudge.  Coconut cream pie from Dahlia Bakery, my pumpkin cheesecake and an apple pie by Brandon.  I thought I wouldn't be able to eat for days, imagine my surprise when I woke up hungry this morning.

But the cranberries.  I don't even like cranberries and I loved this sauce.  I knew, generally, how to make cranberry sauce; cranberries + sugar + water.  Simple enough, but I wanted to shake it up a bit.  I thought, why not replace the water with wine?  There's citrus zest in mulled wine, why not add it into the sauce?  Obviously to balance out the sweetness of the cranberries, I had to throw in some sugar (but not too much).  It really seemed to be a hit!  Even the sauce snobs on the groups loved it and Julie asked if she could keep the leftovers!  I don't know about you, but that's the highest compliment I can get!

I'm really going to rush and try and get all my "Thanksgiving" themed recipes up quickly so you might get some inspiration for your own Thanks(or Friends)giving feast!

Red Wine Cranberry Sauce


Ingredients:

• 1 ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 ½ cup dry red wine
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
• 24 ounces package cranberries
• Zest of one lemon

Directions:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, wine and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the wine has reduced slightly, about 4 minutes.
2. Add the cranberries and the zest. Simmer until the cranberries soften and the sauce thickens, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the heat; remove and discard the cinnamon. Set aside to cool for at least several minutes and up to several hours. Serve warm. (Do not refrigerate; the flavor is muted by the cold.)

Shamrock Sugar Cookies

I am posting another recipe so soon after my last post, could it be?  Yes, yes, it's true.  I fell really far behind on posting (I still have three more recipes to post!) so I might as well do a few at a time.

I made these cookies for St. Patrick's Day for a variety of reasons.  One, St. Patrick's Day has to be one of my favorite holidays.  Two, who doesn't like holiday themed cookies?  And three, I wanted to give these out to everyone I knew to make their day a little brighter!

I must say, this is one of the best sugar cookie recipes I have ever used.  The almond extract and lemon zest made this so much more than your typical sugar cookie.  Then on top of these, these cookies actually held their shape when you cooked them!  The only downside is that these aren't as easy as your roll-out, cut, and bake variety.  After forming the dough, I had to chill it it in fridge for about 30 minutes.  After it was chilled, I divided the dough into two balls and rolled out each one between two pieces of parchment paper.  Once I got the dough to about a ⅓ of an inch thickness, I froze the sheets of dough for about 20 minutes.  After cutting out the shapes and putting them onto parchment paper lined baking sheets, I re-rolled the dough, froze, and repeated cutting out the shapes.  Sounds like a lot of work, but trust me, it's worth it!

Sugar Cookies

Adapted from the Beantown Baker

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. butter
• 1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest
• 5 c. flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• Parchment Paper, for rolling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugars in a mixer for 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly. Add vanilla, almond, and lemon zest.
3. Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt a little at a time. Do not over mix, this process should take about one minute.
4. Chill dough for 30 minutes in fridge. After chilled, divide the dough into two balls and roll out each one between two pieces of parchment paper.  Once dough is at about a ⅓ of an inch thickness, freeze the sheets of dough for about 20 minutes. Remove from freezer and cut out shapes.  Re-roll dough and re-freeze.  Repeat.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and bake cookies for 7-8 minutes. Wait until cookies are cooled before icing.

Thin Mints

Don't you hate it when you go to the store to get one or two ingredients that you need for a recipe (but you didn't write it down because you SWORE you knew exactly what you needed)…and then come home to realize that you are missing something?  Cut to yesterday evening.  I was all ready to try making 101 Cookbook's All Natural Dark Chocolate Thin Mints.  I had wanted to try making these forever.  Then after I already softened two sticks of butter, I realized that (uh oh!) I didn't have any powdered sugar!  Alas, my creative culinary skills to the rescue!  I have made chocolate cookies before and didn't use powdered sugar.  And by knowing the basics of recipe ratios, I had to make due with the ingredients I had… and I must say, my results weren't too shabby (I think delicious is the right word).  The wafers weren't as thin as I would have liked because I left the dough in the freezer for a half an hour too long, but as a result the "inside" of the thin mint was so soft and fluffy.  And as I always do with my regular Girl Scout Thin Mints, I might stick a few in the freezer to see how they taste too!

I would also like to note that I successfully tempered chocolate for the first time… AND it was even on accident!  WOW, I never knew tempered chocolate could be so much better; everything dipped smoothly, it dried so much faster and the chocolate was SO shiny!

And in the spirit of Single's Awareness Day, I made the thin mints heart shaped and topped some off with a little bit of red decorating sugar.  Now, to all the hungry boys out there… While I have only once had a true Valentine (not counting all my guy friends that will be my 'valentine' for a day and eat chocolate and watch TV with me), if I DID have a Valentine, he would be on such a sugar high of homemade treats and love… it would be the best Valentine's Day ever.  Just a hint for next year.

Heart Shaped Thin Mints

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cup white sugar
• 2 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
• 1 pound of dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 tsp (or more) peppermint extract

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add the sugar, and beat until mixed well. Beat in eggs one at a time, then the mint extract.
2. Sift flour, cocoa, and salt together into a small bowl. Add flour mixture by halves into creamed mixture, beating well after each addition.
3. Divide dough in half. Place into ziplock bags, flatten out, and freeze for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
5. Allow to thaw for a few minutes and roll out dough.  Cut into desired shapes and place on cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.
6. Melt ¾ of the chocolate in a double boiler (aka a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water).  When melted, remove from heat, add peppermint extract and stir some.  Then stir in remaining chocolate until melted.  Dip in cookies, making sure to evenly coat both sides, and tap off excess.  Allow to dry on a silpat, parchment paper, or any other non-stick surface.
7. Share with friends and Enjoy!

Peppermint Mocha Truffles

This is the last of the "cookies" of my holiday plate this year.  I have been wanting to try making truffles for quite some time now, and I thought this festive recipe would be perfect!  I love biting into these truffles and having the hard crunch of the outer chocolate shell contrast with the soft minty mocha-y center.  Mmm.  The only issue I had with the truffles was melting the chocolate and successfully coating the chocolate centers.  The centers kept on getting soft (and difficult to work with) when I dipped them into the warm chocolate.  Next time I may freeze the centers first before dipping them in the chocolate.  Side note: I adapted these from My Kitchen Addiction... I'm not enough of a confectionary to invent candy recipes on my own yet.

Peppermint Mocha Truffles

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese softened
• 24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
• 2 tablespoons instant espresso
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vegetable shortening
• Crushed peppermint candies (optional)
• Additional chocolate for drizzling (optional)

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the instant espresso and water, whisking until completely dissolved.  Add the cream cheese and peppermint extract, and set aside.
2. In a double boiler, melt half of the chocolate chips (12 ounces) over barely simmering water until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Pour the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl with the cream cheese, and use a hand blender to mix thoroughly.  Cover and chill overnight.
3. When ready to make the truffles, use a mini ice cream scoop (or clean fingers) to form little balls (about 1 inch in diameter) of the filling.  Place the balls on parchment paper or waxed paper.
4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining chocolate chips with the 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable shortening in a double boiler over barely simmering water until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat.
5. Carefully dip each ball into the melted chocolate and coat on all sides.  Lift with a fork and let the excess chocolate drain off.  Place back on the parchment paper to let the chocolate set.  Sprinkle with peppermint candies, if desired.

Fluffy Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing/Sprinkles

I must regretfully say - I am kinda over the rolled sugar cookie thing.  The first time you roll out the cookies, they turn out well, and then you have to keep adding more and more flour to the board to keep the dough from sticking -- and the last few cookies are so thin and too crispy.  And let's not forget the decorating, oh the decorating.  The first few cookies are fun to decorate, and then you see that you have another 30 or so to carefully decorate.  But these cookies... they are so light, fluffy, and easy to make!  I liked making little "small" fluffy cookies, but feel free to make them into larger balls.  You may just have to adjust the time accordingly.  I pressed some festive Christmas sprinkles into some of them and the others I piped some blue royal icing on.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups granulated sugar*
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 14 Tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs

Directions:

1. Spread 1/2 cup of the sugar* in a shallow dish for coating and set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.
2. Beat the butter and remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar together in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl & beaters as needed.
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Give the dough a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure dough is combined. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour.
4. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350°F. Using palms, roll 2 Tablespoons of dough at a time into balls, then roll in sugar to coat. Place balls on baking sheets, spaced 2 inches apart.
5. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, until the edges are set and just beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking. Allow cookies to cook on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Royal Icing:

Ingredients:

• 1 egg white
• 1 & 5/8 cups of powdered sugar
• a few splashes of lemon juice
• food coloring

Directions:

1. Beat together egg white and powdered sugar with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form and the icing is shiny.
2. Add in lemon juice and continue beating.  Beat in food coloring.
3. Either pipe icing or spread on cookies.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

 
Imagine a Thin Mint... you know, the best Girl Scout Cookie in existence.  Well, that's kind of what the chocolate part of this cookie tasted like.  And that's a good thing for people that you will be giving these cookies to, but for me it has turned into a dangerous addiction.  This was the largest batch of all the cookies that I made, so I put a few in a Tupperware for myself.  However, I cannot just have one!  I keep on going back for just one more... and then another... and you can see where this is going.  I will deffinately be making these again when it gets closer to Christmas.  Even though these cookies take a little longer to make due to all the refrigerating/freezing time, it's great if you'll be making one or  two types of cookies because when these are in the fridge, you can whip up a batch of Russian Snowballs.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• 8 large candy canes or 30 peppermint candies, crushed
• 2 pounds white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F.  Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.  Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed for 1 minutes.  Reduce speed to medium-low, and add the egg, then the yolk, beating well after each addition.  Beat in peppermint extract.  Slowly add flour mixture, and beat until just incorporated.  Shape dough into 2 disks, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
2. Roll out 1 disk of dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness.  Using a 1 1/2-inch round cutter, cut out circles and place 1-inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.  Freeze cookies until firm, about 15 minutes.  Repeat with remaining disk.
3. Bake until cookies are dry to the touch, about 12 minutes.  Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool. (Undecorated cookies will keep, covered, for up to 3 days.)
4. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water.  Remove from heat.  Dip tops of cookies into melted chocolate, and sprinkle with crushed candy pieces.

Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies

Yet another one of the cookies I made at 505.  I haven't had too much success making shortbread in the past... actually - I think the first (and last time) I made it was winter of 2007.  There was a recipe in this cookbook Alex bought me and all we had was a roasting pan to make shortbread in.  Alas - it didn't work.  Even though I should have realized roasting pan does NOT equal good shortbread - I was afraid of making it again.  Also, now that I have a food processor shortbread is a lot easier to make.

I cooked the shortbread for a little bit shorter than the recommended cooking time because I was soo afraid of them burning (ironically, a few of them still did)... but dear god, are these cookies good.  The buttery texture of the shortbread with the crunch of the white chocolate... Mmm.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1/4 tsp. salt

• 1/2 cup butter, cut up

• 1 Tbsp. red food coloring

• 3 ounces white chocolate (with cocoa butter), coarsely chopped

• 1 1/2 tsp. shortening
• festive sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Cover and process with on/off turns until combined. Add butter and red food coloring. Process with on/off turns until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Then continue to process until mixture begins to clump together.
2. Scoop dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until nearly smooth. Roll or pat dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Using a floured 1-1/2-inch round cutter, cut out dough. Place cutouts 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press scraps together and reroll.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until centers are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; let cool.
4. In a heavy small saucepan, melt white chocolate and shortening over low heat, stirring constantly. Place cookie in chocolate with fork, flip over, and remove with a fork and tap off excess on the side of the bowl. If desired, sprinkle with festive sprinkles, nonpareils or chopped pistachios. Let stand on waxed paper until set.

Russian Snowballs

Last night I went over to the boy's of 505 house and made THREE different types of christmas cookies.  These russian snowballs are easy to make (very few ingredients) but it was really beneficial to have a food processor to finely chop up the almonds - I can't even image doing that by hand....  These cookies have a nice little "crunch" on the outside but are SO smooth and buttery on the inside - flecked with bits of almonds... mmm.  This would make a great addition to any holiday cookie platter because they don't take long to make and only use one bowl.


Ingredients: 

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup finely chopped almonds or pecans

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Mix thoroughly butter, sugar and vanilla. Work in flour, salt and nuts until dough holds together. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on ungreased or parchment lined baking sheet.
2. Bake 10-12 minutes or until set, but not brown. While warm, roll in confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire rack. Roll in powdered sugar again.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Fresh Spiced Whipped Cream

Happy Thanksgiving!  This year our group was even smaller than usual - just my mom, dad, grandma, grandma, and me. Caroline was in Oregon spending Thanksgiving with her roommate, Sarah.  BUT they were able to go to this bridge that was in the Twilight movie.  Along with the other two pies on the table (pecan and pumpkin, made by my mom), my mom requested that I make this cheesecake.  Of course I didn't complain because, one, I love cooking.  And two, it's more material for the blog because I know I've been lacking posting an material lately. What can I say?  It's my senior year of college right at the beginning of finals and term papers… I've been eating one too many cans of soup and peanut butter sandwiches that I'd like to admit.

I must say, I really did love this cheesecake.  In fact, I am eating the last little bit as I type (now there is some of the filling on the keys of my keyboard…).  The pumpkin flavor wasn't overwhelming, but was just enough.  It also gave the cheesecake a wonderful golden color.  While I did use a a graham cracker crust, I think a gingersnap crust would compliment the cheesecake well.  Just substitute the same amount of ginger snaps as graham crackers. 

I also did use homemade spiced whipped cream to top the pies with.  Just a general rule of thumb for making whipped cream: start of slow (for about 3 to 5 minutes) and work up to beating at a higher speed.  Only whip until the peaks hold their shape, no longer, or the cream will begin to curdle.  Also, while I used a hand-mixer, if you are whipping by hand, make sure that you incorporate air into the cream by lifting the whisk out of the cream as you are beating… otherwise it will take forever to transform into whipped cream.

And as a side note, sorry for the awkward color and quality of the photo.  For obvious reasons, I didn't take my light box home to my parents house and had to shoot at 800 ISO under compact fluorescent lights; not really a winning combination for food photography.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Ingredients:
Crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1 stick melted salted butter

Filling:

• 3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 (15-ounce) can pureed pumpkin
• 3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For crust:

1. In medium bowl, combine crumbs, sugar and cinnamon. Add melted butter. Press down flat into a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside.

For filling:

1. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin puree, eggs, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar and the spices. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined.
2. Pour into crust. Spread out evenly and place oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Spiced Whipped Cream

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmet 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Add all ingredients and whip until peaks hold their form.

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Congratulations to all the recent initiates into the Les Voyageurs (i.e. Katie, Jill, Donald, & Brian)!!  I made these cookies for them Thursday night when they were down at The Cabin.  Everyone freaked out over how good they were.  Nate said, “What are these delicious globs of gooey-ness in the cookies?” (the chocolate chunks), Megan declared that these are now her favorite cookies, & I think the true proof of their deliciousness is that fact that they were all eaten in less than an hour.

What I really like about these cookies is that the chocolate chunks go well with the texture & flavor of the chewy gingerbread.  If you must, you can use chocolate chips, but chocolate chunks melt & ‘reform’ differently, complimenting the cookie.  I can tell you that these will now be a staple in my holiday cookie plate.  Also, this is a small-ish batch of cookies, so it's very easy to double.

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Adapted from “Martha Stewart’s Cookies”

(makes 2 dozen)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Cocoa Power… what can I say?  Go dark chocolate or go home.)
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature (I rarely actually have my butter at room temperature when a recipe calls for it – pop in the microwave for 15 seconds if you need to)
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated peeled ginger
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsulfered molasses (I used blackstrap unsulfered)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water
• 7 ounces best-quality semi-sweet chocolate, cut into 1/4-inch chunks
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (I rolled mine in some powdered sugar, next time I make these I might try raw sugar)

Directions:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and fresh ginger on medium speed until lightened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined
3. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn onto plastic wrap. Pat out to a 1-inch thickness; seal with wrap. Refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Chill 20 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar. Bake until surfaces just begin to crack, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let cool 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Cookies are best the day they are made, but can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Roasted Pumpkin Pie with an Easy No-Roll Pie Crust

Dear Les Voyageurs & Others who were at The Cabin tonight,

As promised, here is the pumpkin pie recipe… posted as SOON as possible.  I made this earlier today using some pumpkin puree I had frozen a few days earlier.  However, I had two different varieties of pumpkin puree - which I think added a little something to the pie.  One was a small (early autumn) Sugar Treat pumpkin I bought at the farmers market in the middle on September and made into a puree and froze.  The other was from a Small Sugar pumpkin I bought at Trader Joe's on Monday (and once again, made into a puree and froze).  While I recipe I used called for the pie to be baked for 55 minutes, I had to bake it for about 25 minutes longer (I'm starting to think it's because of my shoddy student housing kitchen, not the recipes).  But what really matters is that the center of the pie is "firm" when you take it out of the oven.  ALSO - I used a no-roll pie crust.  It is literally as easy as just mashing it into the pie pan.  So please, never ever buy a pie crust from the store again.  Now, little LV's/other people at dinner tonight, go and make this pie ASAP and impress your mother when you can make it for Thanksgiving dinner!

Love,

Kat

No-Roll Pie Crust

Adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

makes 1 9-inch pie crust

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoon) frozen butter that has been grated on a cheese grater
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used almond oil)
• 1 Tablespoon cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 Tablespoons cold milk

Directions:

1. In a medium sized bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.  Whisk together.  
2. Add frozen butter that has been grated on a cheese grater and tablespoon of cream cheese.  With your fingers, work the cream cheese and butter into the flour mixture, breaking the butter and cream cheese up until they're in well incorporated into the flour.  I like to think that the texture was comparable to "wet sand."
3. Combine the milk and oil.  Whisk together.  Add all at once to the flour and butter mixture.  With a fork, begin to combine the ingredients, making sure that all of the flour mixture is introduced to the liquid.  The mixture will (and should) be shaggy; just dump the dough into a clean 9-inch pie plate.  With your fingers,  press the dough evenly into the bottom of the pie plate and up the sides.  Try to get the dough as even as possible.
4. Place the prepared crust in the freezer while you preheat the oven and prepare your filling.  DONE!  That easy!

Roasted Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/2-1 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves
• 1/2  teaspoon salt
• A dash or so of apple pie spice
• A splash or so of vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and whisk until combined.
2. Pour into pie crust
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until filling is firm, and a knife, when inserted in the middle of the pie is clean when removed.