Gingerbread Snowflakes

A family tradition from DD's mother, these ginger cookies are FABULOUS! AD added a twist this year in making the ginger boys, snowflakes! The recipe follows:

Ginger Cookie Boys (snowflakes)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

1 egg

4 teaspoons grated orange peel (secret ingredient)*

3 cups flour

1/4 cup dark corn syrup

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream together sugar and butter. Add egg beating till fluffy. Add corn syrup and orange zest mixing well. Stir together flour, soda, salt, and spices. Stir into creamed mixture. Chill! After dough is thoroughly chilled, roll on lightly floured surface to 1/4" thickness. Cut with cookie cutter. Place one-inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake @ 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool one minute before removing from sheet. Cool on rack Makes 2 dozen large or 48 small.

Decorate with royal icing. Enjoy!!

*MUST use zest from fresh oranges!!!

Crepes

Crepes! Yum. Good with syrup, yogurt & melted butter. But they're the best with bananas foster! That recipe to come later! For now I will leave you with my dad's famous crepe recipe...

Crepes:

2 eggs

1.5 cups milk

1 cup flour

1 kiss

Combine in a bowl that has the ability to pour in this order: milk-flour-eggs.

To cook-melt 1 teaspoon of butter in a pan and then pour liquid batter into the pan. Cook until golden there is no need to flip! Enjoy!

Aloo Timatar

...otherwise know as, "Potato and Tomato Curry with Cilantro," a popular Indian dish from the north Hindu region. Indian cooking has always been a challenge in DD's kitchen. DD would order take out from the best local Indian restaurant in town rather than experience another kitchen blunder. Thanks to KS, DD's sister, equipped with an excellent cookbook and authentic spices made ALL the difference; that, and cooking together! For this fine home cooked Indian meal, KS, GD, & DD joined forces and rose to the occasion, GD's birthday! So to you I recommend, Madhhur Jaffrey's from curries to kebabs recipes from the indian spice trail. Raita, a yogurt relish, is a wonderful accompaniment to spicy Indian food. This dish recommends a cucumber, mint and tomato raita. Absolutely refreshing! And to your garlic naan, don't forget to sprinkle a little olive oil over top prior to heating. Enjoy!

Tarte Tatin

Tarte Tatin

Once upon a time restaurant owners, who just happened to be sisters, had a little kitchen blunder. Someone forgot to line the pie dish BEFORE adding the filling. An on the spot creative moment produced what we now know today as, Tarte Tatin. The apples caramelize in the sugar and butter. The pastry, surprisingly placed on top of the filling remains flaky and light. And the presentation is sensational. The tart is flipped to make it appear as usual; crust on bottom and decadently caramelized apples on top! Truly sensational! The recipe DD follows is from Cook's Illustrated. A variation with winter pears and crystallized ginger is a delicious twist!

Happy 90th!

My friend Nicole's grandma is turing 90 tomorrow and they're putting on a surprise birthday for her today! I was delighted to help Nicole decide what kind of cupcakes to make and how we should frost them! Nicole also made this great cupcake tray from a tutorial over at Annie Eats.

We decided to make three kinds of cupcakes mini and full size-Vanilla with Buttercream, Chocolate with Buttercream, and the finale cupcake: Pumpkin with a Cream Cheese Frosting. Needless to say the Pumpkin with Cream Cheese were the best! But the others were just as awesome! I hope she is surprised!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

My little brother Steve just graduated from high school this past summer and is now attending Dartmouth...hence the tiny little flags I made by hand with the Darthmouth "D" on them! He's a smart little brother and we're all very proud of him. For his graduation party I was enlisted to make about 125 cupcakes as part of the dessert spread. Steve is allergic to dairy so we made vegan cupcakes. For this party we did vanilla cupcakes with chocolate chocolate frosting. And on the other side we did chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting! The chocolate peanut butter combination was definitely the hit! Delicious! Do not hesitate to try just because I left out the beloved ingredient...aka butter. We'll make up for it in a later post!

Chocolate Cupcakes

if you want to make them vanilla-leave out the cocoa and double the vanilla.

1 1/2 C flour

3 T cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1 C white sugar

1/2 t salt

1 C cold water

5 T oil

1 T vinegar

1 t vanilla

Mix all the dry ingredients, then add the wet. Beat until smooth.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes.

Peanut Butter Frosting:

1/2 C peanut butter

1/2 C vegan butter

2-3 C powdered sugar

splash soy milk

Beat until fluffy!

Scrapple...

Scrapple. This is what I know. You eat it for breakfast. It is made up of all the extra bits of pig that get thrown away. You slice it and you cook it in a pan until its brown. Its from Pennsylvania and its worth trying if you've never had it!

Disasters

Sometimes we have baking disasters! I am not a master baker...I just pretend to be. My sister recently has become vegan. She was away all summer and as her welcome home treat we decided to make vegan Vanilla Thyme Roasted Peach & Blueberry Cupcakes with a Tofutti Cream Frosting. Delicious.

But they forgot to leave out the part that they explode! The explosion could be...part us trying to veganize the recipe...or it was the part that these super cute cupcake wrappers did not work out. Baking fail...it happens now and then.

Buckeyes Revisited

Always a winner...if you can tell by the empty plate. Make these ASAP! And just tell your consumers that they have little sugar and are very healthy. I recently switched to using dark chocolate with them to hopefully increase their healthiness factor. Here is the original recipe that I posted a few months ago! Still the best thing that take the least amount of time. Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffle Recipe

Mrs. Winslow's Potato Salad

Mrs. Winslow is my brother's girlfriends mother (BD's potential Mother in law!) Recently my parents spent the weekend with their family in upstate New York. When they returned home they had a new recipe to share with me. This is very simple and I'm not going to give any measurements because it's a secret. Trust me. If you combine these ingredients until it looks about right, you've created a good thing! Enjoy!

Celery-chopped

Vidalia Onion-chopped

Potatoes-boiled, skinned, cooled, and chopped

Mayonnaise

Salt, Pepper

Hard Boiled Eggs-chopped

Jalapenos Revisited

For those of you who are cautious of spicy things....DO NOT AVOID this recipe! These little guys are delicious! The cream cheese really cuts the heat, but you're also baking it so that brings down the heat as well. Below I've included a more detailed recipe for you adventurous cooks!

Jalapenos Wrapped with Bacon

Ingredients:

Bacon-in thirds

Jalapenos-as many as you can get your hands on

Cream Cheese-one package

Cut jalapenos in half and take out seeds. If you're making a lot of jalapenos. WEAR GLOVES. Otherwise you will experience hand discomfort for the next three days!

Scoop a generous amount of cream cheese into the jalapenos.

Wrap with bacon. And close with a toothpick.

Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25-30 minutes. Make sure the bacon is cooked!

Eat up!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Originally this evening I was planning on making Spiced Carrot Muffins. But instead I made these cookies which are actually quite hearty with the addition of the raisins, nuts and oatmeal. I'm so happy that fall is here! Pumpkin you will be my best friend until it is time for sugar cookies and gingerbread! This cookies recipe is very easy and I will definitely make it again now that we're moving into these fall months!

Revised: I did make the Spiced Carrot Muffins the following night. They were delicious! Yum. Make these ASAP!

Quiche Lorraine & Hash Browns

The perfect beginning to a lazy summer day! -just be certain to plan ahead!! This deep-dish recipe is yet another classic from Cook's Illustrated. The hours necessary to prep the crust are well spent! While you prepare and wait for the crust to take shape, spend the hours with a dear friend over coffee and biscotti or settle-down with a good book!

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

These little yummy appetizers are another blessing from Ree. I've decided that she knows how to please a crowd and her recipes rarely fail. Actually nothing I've made from her has failed. These guys are simple and delicious! With three ingredients, you're good to go. Simply take Jalapeno peppers, slice them in half. Fill them with cream cheese. Wrap in bacon---secure with a tooth pick. Bake for about 25 minutes. Official Recipe.

Don't they look awesome! They were! But they were very spicy! If you can handle the heat, you should definitely make them. I know I'm going to again very soon! They were a sure crowd pleaser. Here is Papa D from How to Make the Face. He's either telling me how great they are after his long bike ride or he's making a reference to Jeff Dunhams-Mr. Jalapeno on a stick!

Giveaway Winner!

Maybe the most exciting day of the summer...Ok second most exciting-the first most exciting I will save! I entered to win a blog contest-where you simply leave a post. Then....about a week later...I found out I won! And I didn't just win one thing I won all of these amazing things! Wholey Moley! Its Christmas in summer. Thanks again Sues and Chels.

If you want to follow my twitter---you can get more updates from me daily. @annemariedenton

Scallop & Bacon Succotash

After reading this post on one of my favorite blogs...I couldn't wait to make it. Most of my contributions to the dish were cleaning up and shaving asparagus but thanks to DD we enjoyed this dish thoroughly the other night! The ingredients were all super fresh and that was key! Try the recipe over at WeAreNotMartha!

Banana Bread Can Vary...

We've tried many different banana bread recipes...But it always comes out different. Does anyone have a fool proof recipe so we can stop experimenting on innocent bananas?

Pumpkin Cake!

About six months ago I signed up online for a preview issue of Cooking Light...and then the issues just kept coming....but thats another story. haha. Anyways in the Cooking Light Issue last November they had this amazing pumpkin cake. Its a brownie type cake topped with a cream cheese frosting! To die for---it barely lasted three days! As you can see it didn't even make it on a plate. Check out the recipe here. Cooking Light has an amazing website and you can browse through all the recipes from the magazines by month. So the next time you need a recipe or are thinking about buying their magazine in the checkout lane-Try the Cooking Light Archive.

Royal Icing & Sugar Cookies

A little over a week ago-I was presented with a challenge. To create sugar cookies with a meaningful symbol in memory of Peter Cannon. Peter Cannon was a cherished member in our community and also a friend of my family and many families that continue to miss him everyday. Peter's high school class graduation was this past Saturday. In memory of Peter on graduation day I was commissioned to create a memorable token. My brother B, brought to my attention that Peter used to strike this pose...the lighting/bolt pose. At first I had no idea how I was going to transfer that image onto a cookie. But somehow within the week I learned how to make royal icing and decorate to the best of my abilities. I hope that I was successful. Please check out the tutorial that I followed. Peter I hope you like it!

Tighter Crochet Pattern

This pattern is the tighter pattern. I chose not to do the edging that this pattern calls for. Instead I just did a dc all the way around 2X. Both are simple to do and I would recommend them. You can see the differences above. The patterns call for particular crochet hooks but I use a 5 for everything! Good luck!

Crocheting!

I really enjoy crocheting dish clothes and giving them to people. I recently just started experimenting with some awesome colored cotton yarn. If you look really hard this one has flecks of peach, green, and brown in it. Beautiful. Its funny. Once people realize how great doing dishes with dish clothes are they become very particular. For example-my mom likes the cloth to be tight with no holes and not to big. Others like holes because it dries quicker. Myself-the smaller the better otherwise its too much for me to hold in my hand. Enjoy the patterns! (This is one that has holes).

Pancakes!

My relationship with pancakes are a funny story. When I was growing up I dreaded the day that my mom decided to make pancakes--because that meant that my dad wasn't making crepes! Crepes hold a special place in my heart! Top 'em off with butter or just some yogurt, they're delicious and my dad always used to make them on the weekends. Maybe one year ago-things changed. It started with a box of bisquick-but I have graduated to the real recipe. Pancakes are amazing! Just as much as crepes. What was I thinking all those years! This summer I think I've almost more than made up for those years of lost pancakes. Enjoy!

I'm included two recipes-both are amazing! One is buttermilk one is not!
recipes from Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking

Basic Pancakes:

2 C flour
5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 TBLSP sugar
2 eggs
2 C milk
1/3 C melted butter

Beat eggs. Once smooth add milk. Stir in melted butter.
Add flour and stir until perfectly smooth.
In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
Add to milk mixture all at once.
Stir until smooth.
Cook on stove.
Top with butter and syrup!

Buttermilk Cakes:

1 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1 C buttermilk
1/4 C butter

Beat egg, stir in buttermilk.
In a separate bowl add flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Add all at once to wet mixture.
Add melted butter.
Let it sit for 5 minutes.
Cook 'em up!

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

The vegetarian or vegan answer to Shepherd's Pie, "Wynelle's Pot Pie" from Sundays at Moosewood, provides a delicious alternative. A favorite family dish, DD prepared the familiar vegetarian pot pie, yet this time, totally vegan, thanks to Earth Balance Buttery Sticks and Natural Shortening.

Organic produce featured a variety of root vegetables: beet, potato, carrots, and onions. Whether stepping into summer or welcoming the autumn months, this recipe is always a crowd pleaser.

http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/#/products/

Basic Roux

2 Tblsp butter/vegan buttery sticks
2 Tblsp unbhleached white flour
1 cup milk/soy milk
1 tsp white wine or spicy brown mustard
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated (opt)

This is simply a basic white sauce or Bachamel sauce.

Happy Birthday Blog & Brother B!

This blog is officially a year old this month! Our very first post was a birthday cake so I felt it appropriate to post the same birthday boys birthday cake this year! He was 17 years old so we had a cake created of the 17th hole! BTW---he loves golf. He decided that he would like an ice cream cake. Unfortunately we took a short cut and hired Maggie Moos to make the cake. Maybe next year we will tackle an ice cream cake by ourselves.

As an ice cream cake hater...I was really impressed with such a great job that Maggie Moos did with the cake. The ice cream was vanilla with oreos mixed in, on top of a oreo crust. Delicious!

I have a new attitude towards ice cream cakes! If anyone is interested in Maggie Moos ice cream cakes please find your local parlor and order it ahead of time!