Gingerbread Latte

I posted about this beauty back here, but some of you have asked for the specifics of this recipe, so this one is for you. Just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas parties. Make a big batch of the spiced milk and keep it in the fridge. When company comes, warm some up in a pot on the stove, brew the coffee or espresso and combine the two in mugs. Top with whipped cream and cinnamon. Voila! You have a fancy drink in just minutes and you look like the Hostess with the Mostess (as Mom would always say).

Gingerbread Latte

1 cup milk (I use skim)

2 Tbsp molasses

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (which is basically mostly cinnamon with ginger, cloves and nutmeg added) I just add a little of each, never measuring
1/2 tsp ginger (for that gingerbread flavor)

1 c strong brewed coffee or espresso

Brew the coffee. While brewing, get out a glass measuring cup, the kind you use for liquids. Measure the milk and then add the sugar and spices. Put it in the microwave on high for 1 min - 1:30. You want it hot, but not boiling. When the coffee is brewed, combine your coffee, spiced milk and vanilla in a large mug. You can top it with whipped cream and cinnamon if you want to go over the top, which I of course did!

Alternative method: Triple or quadruple the recipe and combine milk, molasses and spices. Heat and stir. Cool. Store spiced milk in a jar in the fridge until you are ready to use. When you want a latte, brew the coffee or espresso and heat up the spiced milk and combine for as many servings as you need. 

Toffee Nut Crunch Cookies

Life at our house these days is wonderful. The kids are playing outside in this beautiful weather with much later bedtimes. The pollen seems to have gone down here in landlocked Atlanta with all of our rain. The garden veggies seem to get bigger by the minute. I have even had time to bake just for fun. *Gasp* Usually I bake for a purpose. Something to share with others or an event to celebrate, but occasionally I bake just because. It's a walk on the wild side!

These cookies were good. No, these were GREAT. The entire large batch disappeared from our house in only a couple of days. Ok, we did share a few. I was thinking about omitting the coconut because I don't usually like bagged coconut (give me a coconut right off the tree, that's another story), but it didn't overwhelm this flavorful recipe. They are crunchy, sweet, nutty and buttery.  Really, what else could you ask for in a cookie??

Toffee Nut Crunch Cookies

from Taste of Home

Ingredients

1 c butter, softened

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 c sugar

1 c brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

3 1/2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 c oats

1 c flaked coconut

3 c rice cereal (Rice Crispies)

1 c chopped walnuts or pecans

1 c english toffee bits or almond brickle chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixer, cream butter, oil, sugars and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between. In another bowl, whisk together flour, powder, soda and salt. Add flour mixture to mixer bowl on a slow mix to combine. Add in oats and coconut combine again. Remove from mixer stand and stir in the cereal, nuts, and toffee bits.

Drop by small ice cream scoopfuls or tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased sheet (lined with silicone baking sheet if you have it). Bake for 10 minutes, until light brown. Cool on wire racks.

 

Real Pecan Pie...Frozen

I love pecan pie, but NOT the nasty slimy middle. I solved this problem one time when I bought a piece of pecan pie from the freezer section - Edwards or some brand. I figured it was only one piece so I couldn't go overboard, but when I got it home it was all I could think about (restraint is not my strong point). That silly piece of pie was calling my name. I got home, ripped open the cardboard package and ate the entire slice without letting it thaw or even using a fork.

Turns out it was the best pecan pie I ever ate! It had nothing to do with the brand but the simple fact that the pie was still pretty frozen. When the jiggly middle is frozen it turns to a wonderful gooey, caramel like treat that I LOVED! Now, I make and serve pecan pie to my guests and then freeze my leftovers for me to enjoy another day. I encourage everyone to try pecan pie frozen - you may love it. I've even converted my very southern husband to freezing his.

I decided I needed to make a pecan pie because my husband's wonderful Aunt and Uncle gave us a HUGE bag of pecans. Apparently they have the largest pecan tree in Fayette County, which is really saying something. They gathered the nuts for us and I put the kids to work cracking them with this cool contraption. I won't say it makes cracking the pecans easy...let's say easIER. Once we had enough nuts, I was all set to make my pie.

Real Pecan Pie
adapted from Baking Illustrated by way of Brown Eyed Baker

Single crust pie shell, store bought or homemade
6 tbsp butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 c brown sugar
½ tsp salt (if using unsalted butter)
3 eggs
¾ c light corn syrup
1 tbsp vanilla
2 c pecans, chopped into small pieces

Toast your pecans in a dry skillet on the stove for a few minutes until they smell nutty or toast them on a tray in your toaster oven. Just be sure to watch them as nutty and delicious can turn burnt VERY quickly. Let cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick the crusts with a fork all over the bottom.

Then cover the crust with aluminum foil and fill with dried beans. This keeps the pie shell from puffing up with air and becoming brittle. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove foil and beans weights bake 5 additional minutes until crust is golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven and reduce the temp to 275 degrees.

Melt the butter in a double boiler. {See my new one??} Remove from heat and stir in the sugar and salt with a wooden spoon until the butter is absorbed. Beat in the eggs, then the corn syrup and vanilla. Return to this stove; stir until the mixture is shiny and hot to the touch, about 130 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from the heat; stir in the pecans.

 Pour the pecan mixture into the hot pie shell.

Bake on the middle rack until the pie looks set and yet soft, like gelatin, when gently pressed with the back of a spoon, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer the pie to a rack; cool completely, at least 4 hours. Then to really make magic, put it in the freezer. Promise me you'll do it with a least one piece, just to try. I bet you'll love it!!

Chai Tea for Now...or Later

As I mentioned yesterday, I want to share a Chai tea recipe. Not only because I love chai tea but I've been promising my Aunt a recipe for a few years. (I am a procrastinator.) I had given my whole family chai tea fixins (that's Southern for "ingredients") in canning jars for Christmas one year. Aunt Sharon asked for the recipe, which I didn't have, since I just made it up...as usual. How do you write down "a little of this and a little of that" and expect someone to follow it? When I saw this recipe on Lavender and Lime, I knew it might get me out of the dog house. Will you forgive me now Aunt Sharon??

Chai Tea Mix

Adapted from Lavender and Lime

Ingredients
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp green cardamom pods
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp anise seeds
1/4 tsp peppercorns
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
6 c water
10 black tea bags
1 c sugar (use more or less according to your taste)
2 c water
milk

Bring all the spices and 6 cups of water to a boil. Add tea bags and let steep until very strong tea is made. Remove tea bags and add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add 2 cups more of cold water. Store this concentrate in the fridge in a closed pitcher.

Pour concentrate into a mug, filling halfway. Fill the rest of the way with milk and heat in microwave.

My kids request hot tea often, for afternoon snack or for special occasions, but they LOVE chai tea. Super Bear even requested it for his Secret Agent birthday party.

This makes a great gift  - end-of-the-year teacher gifts, new mom, get well, etc. Just change the colors I used that Christmas long ago and make it whatever colors you like. To make chai tea into a gift, bag the spices together. Fill a container with the sugar in the bottom. Lay the tea bags on top of a square of wax paper. I wrapped mine in colored tissue paper to jazz it up. Add the spice bag on the top. Tie a ribbon around the container with instructions. Your container could even be a pretty pitcher to keep the concentrate in!!

Cookie Dough Truffles

Are you suffering from sugar withdrawal? After all of those Christmas treats and wonderful parties, I sometimes find January a bit depressing - even if we really like being healthy around here. I was searching for a sweet treat when I remembered this one. I have to say, this really was a recipe for my kids. They are big fans of licking the bowl, but I don't let them when we are cooking with eggs - even though I know where the eggs came from. I actually am not a fan of eating cookie dough *shock* or even cookies 'n cream ice cream. I don't know, call me a cookie snob, but I like my cookies soft, homemade and well... baked. However, I recognize that not everyone falls in this category and some people actually like eating the raw dough. I remember back in college when my roommates introduced me to Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. There was a little store in downtown Chapel Hill on Franklin Street. We would walk there from across campus and get a VERY small, delicious, expensive ice cream cone. That was the first time I ever even heard of someone eating cookie dough - and in an ice cream flavor! I thought it was crazy, but I soon learned there are many "cookie doughers" out there.

These truffles come from Taste of Home magazine. I love the down-home feel of their cookbooks. I figured I could make these for the kids and they would be tickled to eactually eat the raw cookie dough. The recipe doesn't use eggs, but it mimics the taste of cookie dough very well. (I had to taste it to see!) You take a small ball of the cookie dough and coat it in melted chocolate. That's where their recipe ends. I had to add to it. They were SOOOOOO super sweet I felt like they needed some salt, so I sprinkled some course sea salt on top of the truffles at the chocolate cooled.

The dough itself was very easy. Coating them in chocolate takes a little time, but it's not hard (and you really don't have to be that neat - mine are definitely not). No doubt a sweet teacher or students would LOVE these for Valentines Day.

If you need other ideas for Valetine's Day, just click on the label "Valentine's" on the side to get to my other recipes and crafts perfect for this time of year.

Cookie Dough Truffles
from Taste of Home

1/2 c soft butter

3/4 c packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 c flour

1- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk - NOT evaporated milk

1/2 c chocolate chips

1 1/2 lbs chocolate melting candy (sometimes called almond bark - find it in the grocery or Walmart) OR you can use melted real chocolate that you know will harden when cool

course salt

In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy and then beat in vanilla. Gradually add flour, alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips. Shape into 1 inch balls, or smaller - these are rich. Place on waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours or put in the freezer for 30 minutes. You want them firm so they can be dipped in the chocolate. In a microwave or double boiler (I got one for Christmas - thanks honey!) melt candy coating according to package directions. Dip balls in coating; allow excess to drip off. Place on cookie racks so the chocolate runs off as cooling, sprinkle with course salt. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes. Store these gems in the refrigerator. 

Yield: 5-1/2 dozen.

Old Fashioned Date Nut Loaf

You know those gifts that somebody gives you and you thank them and you all go on your merry way, only to realize later how incredibly AWESOME that gift really was? This was one of those. We were given a loaf of Date Nut Bread and I thought - "well thanks, very nice". It wasn't until I actually opened this 5 lb brick of a loaf, cut a careful slice and bit into it that I realized what a gift it was. The taste is delicious: sweet, salty, nutty, crunchy and yum! I'm sure the cake was a labor of love to make and an expensive one at that with all of those nuts. I had to have the recipe and the precious givers, Linda and Mario, were happy to share...well Linda was happy to share. Mario might have had other ideas. When he delivered the cake, he told my husband, "if you don't like it - that's okay, just give it back to me". That kinda intrigued me. I mean, these are generous and giving neighbors we are talking about, what's this about giving it back?? Turns out, this is his FAVORITE cake of all time and he just wanted to make sure it was appreciated and not haphazardly scarfed or tossed out. This cake is THAT good. I'm very grateful she twisted his arm because it was delicious - every last bite. I was a little hesitant to share it with my nut and date loving Dad, but it was his birthday, so I relented.

The recipe comes from an old cookbook, which are some of the ones that I most enjoy and least use. I think what throws me off is the lack of pictures. There aren't usually photographs of the recipes and that's what gets my attention. I know the recipes are delicious and I usually enjoy what I make from my older cookbooks, but I just don't do it enough. I figure I might reignite interest in these older cookbooks if I make a few recipes and take some (hopefully yummy looking) photos. I'm really working on my photographs. Everytime I see the one of the hot chocolate cones on pinterest I have to cringe - it's terrible! I did just get a new lens on a girls trip to NYC, I went to B&H photo. That place is amazing! There are at least 47 check out registers - it's busy and big like the rest of Manhattan. Anyway, the lens I got promises to make my food tastier looking, fresher, healthier and all around yummier - that's what the sales clerk told me - really!

Can't you see the delicious difference in this Date Nut Cake? I guess that's cheating since I didn't actually make this cake, but it does look amazing. So if you can spring for the pecans - or you have a pecan tree in the backyard, this is a cake you want to make. It will last a very long time in the fridge and you only need a little slice to go with a cup of fresh brewed coffee. It's perfect for breakfast or an afternoon snack. I figure it has the nuts so you've got a little protein - that makes it as healthy as a power bar in my mind! It kinda reminds me of another loaf I just made with nuts and dried fruits in it, only that one I turned into crackers. I promise to share that recipe very soon, but for now enjoy Old Fashioned Date Nut Loaf.

Date Nut Loaf
from Farm Journal Christmas Book
4 eggs
1 c sugar
1/2 c oil
1 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 lb pitted chopped dates
4 c pecans

Combine eggs, sugar and oil in large bowl. Beat well. Combine flour and salt in a bowl and whisk to mix and sift flour. Add flour to egg bowl and mix well. Fold in dates and nuts. Dump in a greased and floured loaf pan. Put loaf in cold oven and then turn it on to 300 degrees. Bake for 2 hours and then cover loosely with foil. Bake for 15 more minutes.

Soap Snowballs with a Surprise

As you may know, my kids are homeschooled, so really that means we don't ever "break" from school. I know it sounds like a drag, but I am vying for the title, "Meanest Mom in the World"! (I need a shirt that says that.) Actually my kids don't really know we are doing school some of the time. In fact, the other day when I was teaching my oldest daughter, Banana Girl, about price per unit in the grocery store, she said, "Mommy, if we don't hurry up and finish shopping, we are never going to get schoolwork done!" I looked at her and was like, "what exactly do you think we are doing right this very moment?" Of course she had no idea she was learning and I just smiled. While I'm not a fan of sneaking in kid's vegetables, I'm a huge fan of sneaking in some learning. It's a beautiful thing!

For our Christmas learning, we have been baking and wrapping and crafting. Banana Girl decided she wanted to make this crafty project from the trusty fave Family Fun magazine. They looked so sweet and snowy and will make the perfect gift on Christmas for the kids in our extended family. You could also keep the materials on hand for winter break in February. In fact, go ahead and pin this right now, get the materials next shopping trip and you'll be all ready for a snowy project, real snow optional.

Here's what you need:

• Ivory soap bars
• small plastic toys
• water
• cheese grater

I'll show you the way we did it and then what you should probably do instead! First, we bought WAY too much soap. We bought enough Ivory to keep us clean for a long while. I would say each soap snow ball takes about 1/2 a bar of soap, so you be the judge on how many you need.

The first step, is to grate the soap into shreds. As each bar of soap went in my precious Cuisinart food processor, I had a thought. I wonder if this will make my next batch of coleslaw taste a little soapy? I don't recommend the processor way since I had to clean (well it was my husband doing the actual washing) the processor about 4 times before the soap smell/taste came out - Ivory is some strong stuff! We actually ran the processor through the dishwasher first, which is the normal way we clean this appliance, but everything in the dishwasher came out with a thin film of soap on it!! Agghh, not worth the hassle, so in hindsight I'd say use your hand cheese grater.

Either way you choose, go slowly on the feed so you get shorts shreds of soap, not long strings. The shreds look more like real snow as you get farther in the snowball process. See what I mean...

Get the shredded soap in a large bowl, add warm water and mix up with your hands. With 8 bars of soap, we used about  7/8c of water. If you use 4 bars, then you'll need about a 1/2c. If it's pouring down rain around you, like it is here today, you'll probably use a little less because you don't want soap soup. The warm water should create a chunky, sloppy *but clean* mess. The Banana Girl LOVED it. I imagine my Sausage Boy would have enjoyed it as well. The good thing is, even if your kid is the one who won't put there hand in the pumpkin guts, this mess just rinses off and you are left squeaky clean.

After it's pretty well mixed up, squish some into a half ball - blob shape. This is a very technical step, so be sure it's in the blob shape. ;)

After you have a blob or glob if you like that better, put a small plastic toy in the middle of it, then pack more soap on top of it.

The idea is to seal the toy up so you can't see any of it. Then form it into a ball shape, packing it all together tightly. After you have a ball, set it on a tray and repeat the whole process until you are out of soap, trinkets or patience. As a sidenote, don't you just love the way little girl hands' look with the nail polish all chipped? What is it that makes this look so cute on them and so tacky on me?

Your soap snowballs will have to dry for about 3 days before you give them away or use them (again this depends on how much moisture is in the air). The tighter you pack and the drier the ball, the longer it will hold together when you use them. I pulled this one open to show you the inside after about 2 hours of drying time, it was still pretty wet.

We packaged ours up in cellophane paper with a wintery blue ribbon.

So are you ready to make some squeaky clean fun??? Remember pin it for later!! And I'd love for you to follow my pin boards, just click on the Pinterest link on the right (the big P). If you have no idea what I'm talking about, be warned it is addictive. The concept is a virtual pinboard to keep track of all the cool recipes, crafts, books, clothes, gifts, etc you see out there on the internet. Incredibly brilliant idea - just wish I thought of it!!

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas to ALL! These beautiful sugar cookies were given to me by my talented Sister-in-law, Nadia (the one posing with my strawberry cake here) to celebrated Christmas. She sells them at her shop on Etsy. I hope you are having a wonderful time with your family and friends!!

And the angels proclaimed, "Give glory to God in heaven, and on earth let there be peace among the people who please God." Luke 2:14

British Candy Poppers

We made these fun candy "poppers" (or crackers) for the kids' friends. They were really fast and easy to make. If you have candy, toilet paper or paper towel cardboard rolls, tissue paper and ribbon...you have all you need to make them. My almost-six year old tackled this project as one of the two she choose to make this year.

First, stuff the tp roll with as much candy as it will hold. Using leftover Halloween candy is optional, but highly recommended (after all, this is leaving your house which is a great thing).

Then wrap the roll with a section of colored tissue paper. I cut a package of the paper in half and that was a perfect width.

After it's all wrapper up, tie the sides of the paper with ribbon. You can add a note that tells the recipient to pull the ends of the paper apart to "POP" the gift open. For kicks, you can open them the traditional way. Have two people pull at the same time, one on each end, but then there is the inevitable drama of who gets more candy, so maybe not!

This gift is also a great teaching moment since they are originally an English tradition. We looked at the map and learned a little about Britain. My girl was pretty proud of herself after she made a bunch of these for her friends. If you need a last minute gift, this is an easy one.

Candy Cane Cookies - A Flop

Around Christmas we start making many of our presents for our neighbors, friends, preschool teachers and family as I mentioned in my Macaroni Ornament post. Sometimes it pairs with treat we have canned over the summer like the rosemary peach jam (we added fresh loaves of bread), sparkling green pepper jelly, tomato sauce (bread sticks and italian seasoning) or russian tea (mugs). We also usually bake cookies to go along. Our only traditional recipe is my favorite molasses cookies, but the others are usually picked out by the kids each year according to their whims. I save my Family Fun, Martha Stewart, Better Homes and Gardens December issues and a few special Christmas cookbooks. The kids look through them and each pick one recipe or project. This was the first year I let Sausage Boy pick out his own. I figured at three he can make a somewhat reasonable choice. Little did I know what I was in for! 

Right away he picked out these candy cane cookies from Family Fun Magazine. Regular readers of  my blog will know that we are big fans of FF here in Chickenville. All you have to do is search the archives and you'll find all kinds of recipes and crafts we have done from the magazine.They were so cute in the magazine! I had visions of making them for everyone on our gift list so I decided on making a double batch. I imagined we'd have a fun time rolling them out and creating little Christmas masterpeices. Things did not go as planned. Not only did these innocent little cookies take WAY longer than I planned, but they weren't exactly easy to assemble - and in the end, our cookies looked nothing like the slim delicate candy canes pictured in the recipe. The magazine said it would take about 30 minutes prep time and 10 minutes cook time. Not to let Family Fun off the hook, but it seems they have published a better version of this recipe online that does state a 1 hour and 20 minute total prep and cook time! With that, I invite my fearless readers to step into my disaster, so you can avoid one of your own!

The trouble started almost immediately with the dough. It was super soft after making it, so we had to chill it in the fridge for a good hour (unplanned delays are not good with a three year old). Rolling the dough into "snakes" was fun until it kept breaking. He's so used to playdough, I didn't even think about this being a problem.

Then I started having problems twisting the two colors together. It was not easy. I was frustrated, but to his credit, Sausage was not. His colors pretty much ended up melded together and I had to make the cane shape, but he managed about four cookies which took about 30 minutes. These are his masterpieces. He was so very proud!

I had to make the rest of the the batch because I couldn't let him down. I just wasn't expecting it to be that much of a challenge. I know decorated sugar cookies take time, but these looked deceivingly easy. It was laborious rolling the dough out and then twisting the colors together (to say nothing of trying to get a photo for you all)!

With practice (remember I prepped a double recipe) I got a little better. These were the few that turned out pretty. They each took about 25 minutes to make. That's maybe a *slight* exaggeration.

After all of that work, the cookies are VERY fragile. Even though I made the ropes thick they still broke at the slightest un-tender touch. These are NOT cookies for shipping to my cousin in California or even for walking next door to the neighbors house.

Also, I did have to reduce the cooking time to 7 minutes because the white part of the cane was browning making it look like a dirty candy cane. Yuck!

 

Overall not a recipe we will be making again. Too much work for a so-so cookie. But this face made it all worth the trouble. I enjoyed cracking up with my sweet, silly Sausage Boy who exhibited courage in the face of adversity. I love that kid.