Category Archives: Christmas

I’ve Been Told I’m An Airhead

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That must be why I like nice airy souffles so much. Wait. Does that mean I’m a cannibal if I eat one? Ehhh, who cares; they’re tasty (wonders suddenly if I was a member of the Donner Party in a past life).

Once upon a time, I wouldn’t eat souffles. I also wouldn’t eat sushi, anything with Acai Berries, Quinoa or any sort of thing touted as an ancient grain,. Nor would I touch Risotto, anything “Blackened” (unless I accidentally burned it) Avocados, Organic Foods, bottled water, artisan anything or anything bought at the “it” store of any given moment. I had/have a thing about being trendy.

Ok, really, I have this slight quirk when it comes to being non-conformist. Fine! I admit it! I really really hate to follow the crowds. I think it comes from being that “bully target” when I was a kid. If I wasn’t good enough then, I’m sure as hell not changing and being like everyone else just to fit in NOW. 😛 That stupidly extended to what I would eat.

Yeah. I need therapy.

I have however gotten to the point of eating most of those things. I still tend to roll my eyes at organic simply because I’m too cynical for my own good and don’t believe that 1) the vast majority of organic/clean foods are any better for you (unless you raise them yourself) than other foods and a lot of studies agree with that idea and 2) I’m not rich. Plus, unless it is in a California roll piece of sushi, I still don’t care for avocados. Nor will I buy 99.9% of anything labeled artisan  simply because I hate snooty foods lol and that I’m not rich thing again 😛

I have learned to love souffles. Sweet, savory, whatever, I’ll try them. I admit to a fondness for the sweet ones though. Whoda thunk it huh?

I have always loved the chocolate mint combo. I have mentioned that on a number of blogs recently because it tis the season for that combination right now. However, even there, I have to be different. It’s a sickness; I swear. I need rehab. Or chocolate. Whichever.

So I didn’t make mine with milk or dark chocolate (or the real stuff as my friend Bel would say. According to her, white chocolate isn’t real 😛 ). I made it with white chocolate. But being me, I had to mess with it even more. So I added that nice minty Christmas mint flavor by adding some Peppermint Schnapps.

This turned out really really good. I was kind of tickled with myself to be honest. It would be a perfect fit on Christmas or just whenever you want a treat. So try this one. I insist. Or I’ll make you eat raw liver. This is a change up from a white chocolate souffle recipe I found at thatsmyhome.com

White Chocolate & Peppermint Schnapps Souffle

  • 5 large eggs, room temp & separated
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (USE this… it helps stabilize the egg whites which is important in souffles)
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon sugar (no, that’s not a typo)
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup whole milk (or just mix a little cream into lighter milk. Just use milk with some fat. It helps add richness and height)
  • 4 tablespoons peppermint schnapps
  • 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 8 ounces good quality white chocolate
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 crushed candy canes
  1. In a microwave safe bowl, combine the white chocolate, cream. 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract, 2 tablespoons of the schnapps and butter. Microwave in one minute increments, stirring after each, until melted. Set aside.
  2. In a medium heavy bottomed sauce pan, beat the egg yolks with the 4 tablespoons sugar. Add the flour and beat just until blended.
  3. Slowly beat in the milk & 2 tablespoons of the schnapps.
  4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick. Don’t boil. Do NOT get bored and walk away. You’ll regret it. Please don’t ask how I know this.
  5. Cool the egg mixture until it is barely warm. Stir the white chocolate mixture into it.
  6. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Butter and sugar 4 individual souffle dishes.
  7. In a VERY clean preferably glass, bowl (make sure it is squeaky clean or your whites won’t rise), beat your egg whites with the cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the 1 tablespoon sugar. Beat until stiff.
  8. Pour the egg and chocolate mixture into a large clean bowl. Fold the beaten whites into the yolk mixture; about half at a time. Make sure no white streaks remain.
  9. Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes or until they are puffy, set and lightly browned. They can move but they shouldn’t jiggle. The center should look dry. Use just your oven light to check them because it doesn’t take much in the way of cool air to deflate a souffle.
  10. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the crushed candy canes. Serve immediately. Souffles wait for no one. 😀

Are You Feeling Crafty??

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Hello dear readers, fellow bloggers and those who come here to roll their eyes and sneer. I need some advice. We have realized that we can not afford even one Christmas present for my boys who still live at home. Not even one. I thank God that we tend to be food stockpilers so that I have an ample supply of baking foods and other stuff to make Christmas (and the blog) merry with yummy foods. But it still kills me to have to tell my boys that I can’t afford to give them Christmas presents, especially since my youngest, at three, is having his first year of talking about Santa Claus and asking what Santa is going to bring him. Moving tapped us out money wise and our bills are higher now. We can make ends meet but there is absolutely NOTHING in the budget for extras and since we moved rather quickly, I hadn’t thought to save extra towards Christmas or to stockpile gifts early. So I need your advice.

I absolutely SUCK at crafts. I mean, really really bad with no artistic bent whatsoever. I can crochet but I can only crochet straight lines. I can draw but only if it’s in a coloring book and even then I go out of the lines 😛 I can use scissors but I am probably better off with the safety type they give kids in Kindergarten. I don’t want to use food as gifts because 1) I make goodies anyway so it wouldn’t feel like a gift to my boys, just more food momma made and 2) they would scarf it down in five minutes flat and that would be that until the aching tummies happened.

But I know that some of you are the crafty sorts. So my hope is that some of you can give me ideas on some crafts to make that are doable by Christmas by a woman who can only crochet straight lines. I don’t have a whole lot in the way of supplies (that pesky money thing again lol) but I have old clothes I can cup up, paper, pens and pencils and even some fabric paints (the kinds you squeeze out of tubes) from a time when I was deluded enough to think I might be able to use them w/out covering everything in paint.

So there is where I am hoping that you, my much more talented and creative friends, can help me. I am also looking for just general ideas for Christmas gifts that aren’t necessarily crafts but are doable for free or so cheap as to make a penny cry. I think if I have to wake up Christmas morning and have my boys see a tree that is empty underneath it, I will crawl under a rock and stay there forever.

So moving on. I have an amazingly yummy and easy recipe for you today. We all know I went through an apple phase earlier in the Autumn season. Well… it’s backkkkkkkk! I found a recipe in a Southern Living Baking magazine that I had been wanting to try. I wish now I had tried it sooner because it so so simple yet with a taste that made me want to stick my face down in the frosting and never come back out. I didn’t do much to change it though what I did do made this even better than what it would have been, I believe. I added some crystallized Ginger to the cake batter, used Gala apples instead of Granny Smith because that’s what I had, added more vanilla and a slug of bourbon and added maple flavoring to the frosting. These changes put this into the realm of ove the top wonderful. Yet still very homey, very comforting and very easy with just enough batter to hold the apples together. Another bonus is that this smells like a big gigantic snickerdoodle cookie as it bakes. So give this a try. I think you’ll like it.

Apple Ginger Cake With A Browned Butter Maple Frosting

  • 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/4 cup crystallized ginger
  • 1/4 cup bourbon (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 1/2 pounds Gala apples, cored, cut into 8 wedges then each wedge cut in half (the original recipe called for peeling but I didn’t bother)
  • Frosting-
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 16 ounce box powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup milk (I had to use like a tablespoon or so more)
  • 1/2 tsp. maple flavoring
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast the pecans in a single layer on a cookie sheet until lightly toasted and smelling yummy, about 5 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup melted butter, sugar, eggs, bourbon and vanilla extract.
  3. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and crystallized ginger.
  4. Add the flour mixture to the butter/egg mixture. Stir just until combined then add in the apple pieces and 1 cup of the pecans. The batter will be very thick; that’s who it’s supposed to be.
  5. Spread batter into a lightly greased 13×9 inch pan.
  6. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and cake it golden brown. Cool completely in the pan.
  7. FROSTING-
  8. While the cake is baking, start your frosting.
  9. Cook the 1 cup butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until the butter turns a golden brown. This will take about 6 minutes or so. Immediately take off of the heat and pour into a bowl. Refrigerate until the butter is just beginning to solidify.
  10. Beat the butter in a medium bowl until fluffy. Add in the sugar, milk and maple flavoring. Beat together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Trust me… the more you beat, the lighter and fluffier most butter based frostings become. Keep beating.
  11. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and sprinkle on the 1/2 cup of pecans.
  12. Eat. Moan. Repeat.

 

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (Foodbuzz/Glad Cookie Exchange!)

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Most of you know that I am mom to six children. I have talked about them before and make no secret that they are what I consider my greatest accomplishments in life. I have been blessed in that all six of them, despite my one son being a special needs child for other reasons, have always been physically healthy, Sure, there have been illnesses but nothing life threatening and nothing that went beyond momentarily frightening.

Not all parents and not all children have been that lucky though. Many face this time of year fighting not only to keep the joy of the season but being forced to watch as their children fight for their lives.

Pediatric cancer is the number one cause of death by disease in children in the United States. Why does this happen in a highly developed country you ask? Money. Plain and simple… lack of money. It’s frightening to think that children die because of a bad cash flow but they do. Cures take research and research takes money and that is something that is lacking in the fight against pediatric cancer.

Knowing how blessed I am in the health of my children, I definitely wanted in when Foodbuzz and Glad offered me the chance to do a very small part in the fight against pediatric cancer. The Glad company is sponsoring a cookie exchange to fight cancer, called
The Glad Products Company’s Glad To Give Campaign with the money raised going to Cookies For Kids Cancer . I was ecstatic when I was accepted to blog about this issue. If the cookies I have made make even a few dollars for this cause in a virtual exchange, I’m thrilled!

That site was founded by Gretchen Witt, a mom who lost her son Liam in January of 2011. Liam was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 at the age of 2. Liam’s parents learned then that a full quarter of children with cancer don’t survive because of the lack of funding for research. Sadly, Liam fell into that group. But by the time he passed away, his mother had already founded Cookies For Kids Cancer. It’s a non profit organization that helps people host bake sales or cookie exchanges with the money raised going towards cancer research.

So how can you help? First, go to www.facebook.com/glad and host a virtual cookie exchange., Gather a few friends, email your family members and get everyone over there. The very generous Glad Company will donate ten cents for every cookie sold, exchanged or given during the months of November and December 2011. Second. go to www.cookiesforkidscancer.org and make a donation. Think of every single child you know who enjoys good health and donate for their sake. Go to the site and read the stories of some the children. Donate for THEIR sake. Donate in memory of Liam. Donate because this should NOT be the problem it is in America. Not in this day and age. Donate because I actually wrote a serious post and that alone is worth something.

So what did I make for MY virtual cookie exchange? I wanted to stay classic with mine with things everyone would like. So I made Linzer Cookies and Iced Sugar Cookies. Please keep in mine that I have honestly admitted before that my decorating skills lack…well… skill. In other words, I stink at it. I love to bake and do it often but my artistic skills line in being able to stay in the lines in a coloring book not in making elegant or gorgeous cookies lol. But you know what? They taste good. So make some of these cookies and go have a cookie exchange. Make some money so other parents don’t lose their children too soon.

The Linzer cookies came from Good Housekeeping. I like these because they use ground pecans instead of the typical ground almonds and you know me, I have to be different. I added almond extract though because I am a sad portrait of an addict. The sugar cookies came from food.com and the only thing I changed was to add extra of both the almond and vanilla extracts as well as an extra quarter cup of sugar. Plus I used a non stick cookie sheet and did fine without the use of parchment paper.

Raspberry Filled Linzer Cookies

  1. 8 ounces pecans
  2. 1/2 cup cornstarch
  3. 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temp
  4. 1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
  5. 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  6. 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
  7. 3/4 teaspoon salt
  8. 1 large egg
  9. 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  10. 3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam (obviously you can sub your favorite flavor)
  • In your food processor, pulse pecans and cornstarch until pecans are finely ground.
  • In large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and 1 cup powdered sugar until mixed. Increase speed to high; beat 2 minutes or until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping bowl. At medium speed, beat in vanilla, salt, and egg. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour and pecan mixture just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl.
  • Divide dough into 4 equal pieces; flatten each into a disk.
  • Wrap each with plastic wrap and refrigerate 4 to 5 hours or until dough is firm enough to roll.
  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove 1 dough round from the fridge; let stand 10 to 15 minutes at room temperature for easier rolling, unless you’re really looking for an arm workout.
  • This dough is very very soft if not chilled well so do NOT however let it get too “unchilled” or it it will stick to your cutters, your counter, your clothes. Please don’t ask how I know this.
  • On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll dough 1/8 inch thick.
  • With floured 21/4-inch fluted round, plain round, or holiday-shaped cookie cutter, cut dough into as many cookies as possible. With floured 1- to 11/4-inch fluted round, plain round, or holiday-shaped cookie cutter, cut out centers from half of cookies. Wrap and refrigerate trimmings. With lightly floured spatula, carefully place cookies, 1 inch apart, on ungreased large cookie sheet.
  • Bake cookies 17 to 20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough and trimmings.
  • When cookies are cool, sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar through sieve over cookies with cutout centers.
  • In small bowl, stir jam with fork until smooth. Spread scant measuring teaspoon jam on top of whole cookies; place cutout cookies on top. Store cookies, with waxed paper between layers, in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 1 week or in freezer up to 2 months. (If cookies are stored in freezer, you may need to sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar again before serving.)

Iced Sugar Cookies
  1. 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  2. 1 1/4 cup sugar
  3. 2 eggs
  4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  5. 1 teaspoon almond extract
  6. 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  7. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  8. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  9. 1/2 teaspoon salt
  10. FROSTING-
  11. 2 cup SIFTED powdered sugar
  12. 1 tablespoon (or more; I ended up with a full 3 tablespoons) milk
  13. 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
  14. 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
  • In a large bowl, combine the butter with the sugar, eggs and extracts. Beat on high speed until light and fluffy
  • In another smaller bowl, mix together your dry ingredients (not the frosting ones of course…just making sure to cover that 😛 )
  • Stir the dry ingredients into all that buttery goodness.
  • Cover the bowl with plastic or put into gallon sized baggies and refrigerate this for at least 2 hours.
  • Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. I actually did mine at 375 because in the past, I have just found that anything above that for most cookies leads to burned edges.
  • On a lightly floured board or counter, roll out dough to about a 1/4 inch thickness
  • Cut into nice Christmasy shapes. Do at least ONE Christmas tree… because I said you have to. It’s the law.
  • Put 2 inches apart on either a parchment sheet lined cookie sheet or a non stick one.
  • Bake until firm and very lightly browned around the edges, about 4 to 6 minutes if you do it at 400 or about 10 at 375.
  • Let cool COMPLETELY before icing.
  • For frosting, mix together the powdered sugar with the tablespoon milk (don’t add more yet; wait to see if it needs it until after you’ve added the other ingredients).
  • Beat in the corn syrup and extract; keep beating until smooth and shiny. NOW add more milk if it is too thick for spreading.
  • The easiest way to frost the cookies is just to dip them in the icing. Let the excess drip off.
  • Decorate them while the frosting is still wet so that whatever sprinkles you put on will stick. This dries hard so you won’t be able to do that if you wait.
As part of a Tastemaker Program with Foodbuzz, as a Featured Publisher, I received a Baking Kit with baking supplies from The Glad Company to use while making cookies for The Cookies For Kids Cancer Cookie Exchange as well as a stipend to cover costs.
Remember, go to www.facebook.com/glad to host your own virtual cookie exchange and/or go to http://www.cookiesforkidscancer.org to register a cookie sale or donate to help fund research helping Pediatric Cancer