Holiday Baking 2013 - part one

Now that Christmas is almost here, I have officially started my holiday baking.  So far I have made pecan tassies, almond vanilla bean sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and peanut butter blossoms.

As I type up the recipes to add to my computer, I’ll share them.  I also need to add them to my family cookbook (a gift from my mother-in-law).  Until then, here are two to tide you over. 

Almond Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

I used this recipe from Betty Crocker as inspiration.  Since I wasn’t sure how the changes would turn out, I made a half batch.  The hubby was very pleased with the result!

Ingredients:

½ cup vanilla bean sugar

½ cup powdered sugar

½ cup unsalted butter

½ cup canola oil

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 egg

2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

½ teaspoon salt

Vanilla bean sugar

Directions:

• In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, powdered sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy.
• Beat in oil, vanilla and eggs until well blended.
• On low speed, beat in flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt until a dough forms.
• Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight for easier handling.
• Heat oven to 375*F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten each with bottom of glass dipped in vanilla bean sugar.
• Bake 5 to 8 minutes or until set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.

Almond Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies

Peanut Butter cookies and Peanut Butter Blossoms

One of the many books I have in my collection is 1001 Cookie Recipes: The Ultimate A-To-Z Collection of Bars, Drops, Crescents, Snaps, Squares, Biscuits, and Everything That Crumbles by Gregg R. Gillespie.   You can tell how much I love one of the peanut butter cookie recipes by the notations - and the spilled ingredients - on that page, both signs of an excellent recipe.

I use the same recipe for both peanut butter cookies and peanut butter blossoms (or, as I like to call them, hugs and kisses cookies). 

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup peanut butter

2 large eggs

Directions: 

• Preheat oven to 350*F
• Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda.
• In a large bowl, beat together brown sugar, butter, peanut butter and eggs.
• Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.  The dough will be soft.

Peanut Butter Cookies

For Peanut Butter cookies

• Drop dough about 3 inches apart onto baking sheet.
• Using a fork dipped in sugar, crisscross tops of dough.
• Bake 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

For Peanut Butter Blossoms

• Roll balls of dough into sugar and place about 3 inches apart onto baking sheet.
• Bake 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
• After baked add one Hershey kiss (or hug) to the middle of cookie.

NOTES: 

• You can use chunky peanut butter for more crunch.
• Instead of all white flour, I used 1 part whole wheat to 2 parts white.
• For a double batch, use an 18 ounce jar of peanut butter.

It's the holiday season

Front of this year's Christmas cards

Christmas is only a couple weeks away!  How did that happen?  Most of my holiday shopping is finished, other than ordering a few items online and buying some gift cards.  I put up two small trees, wrapped several gifts, and mailed nearly forty homemade Christmas cards.  At work we have switched over to our winter bulletin boards and decorations, though we are still putting up a few items here and there. 

The past few days I have begun to consider what sweets I want to make for Christmas.  Peanut Butter Fudge is a must.  Not only is a favorite of mine, but I know that several of the hubby’s family love it as well.  I might also make a batch of Buckeye Brownies to take to the in-laws’ house.  Those are my current favorite.

"Oh, Christmas trees! Oh, Christmas trees!"

What else to make, though?  I could always stick with the usual suspects: chocolate chip, peanut butter, peanut butter blossoms, and loaded oatmeal.  Maybe make an old favorite that I haven’t made in years, such as pecan tassies or kolache (not the nut roll dealio that the hubby calls kolache).  Or I could try something new.  I could even forgo the cookie route and bake a cake.  So many options…so few people eating them. 

Of course, I could always take the cookies to work and share with my coworkers.  They might grumble about the excess of treats, but that rarely keeps people from enjoying the goodies!

Obviously, my niece Maddie does not heart Santa

What are your favorite holiday sweet treats?   Have a recipe to share?

Buckeye Brownies

Sometimes I want to eat brownies.  Sometimes I just want to eat brownie batter.  

Seriously, though. I LOVE brownie batter.  Yes, with the eggs.  This is the only reason I buy boxed brownie mixes, as the recipe I have for brownies from scratch is so easy to make.  When I want to actually eat brownies, I use the recipe for Evil Brownies - so called because you can't eat just one.

The past few weekends the hubby has asked for brownies.  I would bake a batch from a mix, sending some on the road with him when he leaves and taking the rest in to work for my coworkers to enjoy. I really don't eat a lot of brownies.  But, this weekend I realized that the only mix in the cupboard was for dark chocolate brownies.  I knew this wouldn't fly with the hubby.

The finished product.

The hubby loves peanut butter.  We go through several 40 oz jars of creamy Jif every month.  So, when I realized that I would have to make brownies from scratch, I decided to spruce them up a bit by adding some peanut butter chips to the mix. 

I knew I was going to frost these babies with some medium flavored chocolate buttercream; however, I decided they needed some more peanut butter goodness. So...before making the chocolate buttercream frosting, I made some peanut butter frosting.  Instead of washing my mixing bowl another time, I just made the chocolate frosting in the same bowl. 

Here are the recipes I used. I will admit - I guesstimated on the peanut butter measurements.

Evil Brownies

Evil because you can’t eat just one!

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

½ cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Chopped nuts, chocolate chips, etc. (optional)

Preheat oven to 350*F

Blend all.  Stir in nuts, chips, etc.

Spread in a greased 9” square pan.

Bake at 350*F for 20-25 minutes or until brownie begins to pull away from pan edges.

Cool in pan.  Frost if desired.

Peanut Butter frosting

1 1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Mix well.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

(Double batch measurements in parentheses)

Hershey’s cocoa

Light flavor 2 teaspoon (1/4 cup)

Medium flavor ¼ cup (1/2 cup)

Dark Flavor 1/3 cup (3/4 cup)

1 cup powdered sugar (2 2/3 cups)

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter (6 Tablespoons)

2 Tablespoons milk (4-5 Tablespoons)

½ teaspoon vanilla (1 teaspoon)

Put all ingredients in mixing bowl and mix well. 

For a glossier frosting, add 1 Tablespoon corn syrup.

Single batch makes 1 cup.  

Side note:  If you add nuts, they are boy brownies.  Without nuts - girl ones. My mom is the one who first told me that. lol

Tuesday Tastes - Sunday Dinner

On Sunday the Hubby and I went to his parents’ house for two reasons.  One – to do laundry.  Our washing machine died on us a few weeks ago, so we’ve been going there every two weeks instead of paying at a laundromat.  Thankfully we can afford to buy a new washer once I get paid on Friday.  Yay!  The other reason we went to the in laws’ was to celebrate Mother’s Day.  Instead of going out to dinner, we came over and I made a meal.  Originally it was going to be just the four of us, but one of Hubby’s sisters and her family came over as well, so I made dinner for eight.

After a few discussions as to what to make, Hubby and I decided to make spaghetti.  Nice and easy.  Of course, I can’t just use a jar of sauce without doing something to it.  Using a jar of Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic red sauce as a base, I added the following to it: 1 large can of crushed tomatoes with basil, 1 bag of frozen roasted peppers and onions (from Trader Joe’s), 1 large Vidalia onion, 1 ½ pounds of sliced baby Bella mushrooms, 1 ½ cups shredded carrots, ½ pound sweet Italian sausage, ½ pound hot Italian sausage, minced garlic, Italian seasonings, and red pepper flakes. 

So. Very. Delish.  Seriously, I love my pasta sauces.  I rarely brag about myself and really mean what I am saying, but this is one case where I really do believe it.  My pasta sauce rocks.

In addition to spaghetti, we had cheesy garlic toast and a large salad with my homemade vinaigrette dressing.   It’s so easy to make.  I don’t know the exact measurements as I usually just go with how it looks and/or tastes.  The main ingredients are: balsamic vinegar, Mrs. Dash seasoning, garlic (minced and/or powdered), and extra virgin olive oil.  I will sometimes add flavored vinegars, such as raspberry, or some honey and mustard. 

For dessert we had fresh red raspberries and strawberries with vanilla sugar over vanilla bean iced cream with whipped cream. 

Of course, I don’t have any photos of the yumminess.  Instead I am going to share the recipe and photos for Garlic Croutons.  I made these with bread leftover from Sunday’s dinner.

Mmmmm. Roasted Garlic bread

Garlic Croutons

Ingredients:

• Dense bread (my local grocery store sells a roasted garlic bread that is perfect)
• Olive oil
• Garlic powder
• Italian seasonings
• Onion salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400*F
Cut the bread into cubes

Cut the bread into cubes

In a quart or gallon sized storage bag, put olive oil, garlic powder and Italian seasonings.  The amount depends on how much you are making.  I used about 1/3 cup of oil and a teaspoon of each garlic powder and Italian seasonings.


Add bread to the storage bag and close bag.  Coat bread.

Coat with olive oil and seasonings

Place bread cubes in a single layer in a baking dish or sheet pan.  Sprinkle a bit of onion salt on top.  For a more garlic taste, use garlic salt instead.

Single layer in a baking dish

Bake for approximately 10 minutes. 
Let sit to cool.  Once cool put in a storage container or bag.  Enjoy.

Ready to eat!