Making Gingerbread Cookies With the Kids

What a cute Gingerbread Man!

Our favorite gingerbread cookie recipe.  When baking this cookie recipe with the kids, I do the step with the double boiler.  It is more of the tedious task.  This cookie dough is also dangerously good!  Watch out!

Melissa's Gingerbread Cookies
from The Martha Stewart Cookbook
makes 3-4 dozen cookies

1 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 pound (2sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Royal icing

Place the molasses, sugars, ginger, and cinnamon in a double boiler over medium heat.  When the sugar has melted, add the baking soda and stir.  When the mixture bubbles up, remove from heat.

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl.  Add the hot molasses mixture and stir well. Let mixture cool to about 90 degrees F, then add the eggs.  Gradually add the flour, 1 cup at a time, while beating.  (This is best done in an electric mixer, but you can use a wooden spoon).

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Shape the dough into a neat rectangle, place on a well-floured board, and roll out until 1/4 inch thick.  Cut into shapes with a cookie cutter.  Place on baking sheet and bake 12-18 minutes, or until firm to the touch.  Let cool on racks.

Decorate with Royal Icing.

Step one in the double boiler.  Stir until sugar has melted.

After the soda is added...bubbly

Ready to roll

Oven ready

Icing is the kids job...my hub decorates with them

Harvest Margaritas

The day before Thanksgiving I was cooking away and watching Food Network's Thanksgiving Live.  The show featured recipes and tips from Rachael Ray, Anne Burrell, Sunny Anderson, Melissa d'Arabian and Bobby Flay.  I was so inspired watching these professional chefs.  What a GREAT life they seem to have!


One recipe idea that sounded good also happened to be completely out of character for me.  It was a cocktail idea.  The cocktail conversation kept coming up on the program.  Maybe they were trying to sell cocktails.  Well, they succeeded!


Bobby Flay presented his recipe for Harvest Margaritas.  About 10 or so years ago I bought some Tequila for some event.  We still have it.  Does alcohol ever go bad? Hmmm....good question.  Anyway, we just keep moving it from house to house and it sits up in the cupboard waiting for a good idea.


I looked up his recipe online and headed to the store for the ingredients we didn't have.  Bitters.  What the heck is bitters?  After arriving at the grocery and wandering down the alcohol aisle I read just about EVERY label and did not see something that read "Bitters."  I then sought the expertise of the internet. Apparently bitters used to be added to most drinks.  Interesting, but what is it?  I never found it, so I would have to improvise.  I used a couple splashes of Triple Sec instead.


Another item the store was out of was whole allspice.  Must have been a run on whole allspice for the fall holidays.  Again, improvisation was necessary.  I would leave it out.


Here's Bobby's real recipe:


Bobby Flay's Harvest Margaritas (Almost)

Ingredients

• 2 ounces tequila, such as Patron reposado tequila (I used whatever was in the cupboard)
• 1 1/2 ounces chilled Spiced Simple Syrup, recipe follows
• 1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
• Few dashes bitters (or Triple Sec like I used)
• Ice
• Lime wedge, for garnish
• Kosher Salt

Directions

Combine the tequila, simple syrup, lime juice, bitters and ice in a cocktail shaker and shake for 10 seconds. Serve straight up or on the rocks with a lime wedge for garnish.

Spiced Simple Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar
• 8 whole allspice berries
• 8 whole cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

Combine the sugar, 1 cup water, allspice, cloves, cinnamon and ginger in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until the sugar is completely melted. Remove from the heat and let steep for 1 hour. Strain into a small bowl, cover and refrigerate until cold.

How did it turn out?


We were graciously invited to enjoy Thanksgiving with some friends.  Ahead of time, I made the simple syrup.  I brought my Harvest Margarita ingredients to share and get some professional opinions.  They margaritas were a HIT!  They are super strong, so each couple just shared one.  We must be a bunch of lightweights.  It was fun to try something new.


I will keep them in mind for the future.


Thanks Bobby, for the great idea.  Maybe next time I'll need to find out what in the world bitters are.

Cranberry-Ribbon Apple Pie

When I think of fall, visions of apple trees and pumpkin patches come to mind. Here are some photo memories of a trip we took to an apple farm/pumpkin patch in 2008.

Now this is a pumpkin patch

And every great pumpkin patch has a enormous corn maze

circa ~2008

Pumpkins and Apples- Fabulous Harvest

There are so many delectable apple and pumpkin recipes to choose from where does one begin?  In the last many years, I've come to appreciate Bon Appetit recipes.  I can honestly say, everything I've ever made from Bon Appetit turns out great.  My aunt is a long-time Bon Appetit subscriber and amazing cook.  She's saved all her magazines and I'm sure has quite the collection stashed away.

For our Thanksgiving gathering this year I chose to make Bon Appetit's Cranberry-Ribbon Apple Pie.  The crust is great and the pie was a crowd-pleaser.

Cranberry-Ribbon Apple Pie

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup 100% cranberry juice (I didn't have the juice on hand, 1/2 cup water worked fine)
2 cups cranberries (fresh)

2 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
1 3/4 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 Butter Pie Crust Dough disks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon milk
Cinnamon/Sugar mixture

Vanilla Ice Cream

Stir 3/4 cups sugar and juice in saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add cranberries; bring to simmer.  Reduce heat; simmer until almost all liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 25 minutes.  Cool.  (This can be made ahead of time and chilled).

Toss all apples, flour, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and sugar in large bowl to blend.

Apple Mixture

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Roll out 1 dough disk.  I roll out between two sheets parchment paper.  Transfer to 9-inch deep dish pie plate.  Trim overhang, if necessary, to 1-inch.

Pie Crust

Pie crust Recipe

Spread cranberry mixture over crust bottom.   Top with apple mixture;  dot with butter.  Roll out second dough disk; drape over apples.  Trim, if necessary.  Press crust edges together to seal; crimp.  Cut 1-inch hole in center (I cut slits in top- for steam release).  Brush crust with milk.  Mix 1 tablespoon sugar and pinch of cinnamon tin small bowl; sprinkle over crust.

Bake pie 15 minutes at 400 degrees; reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake until crust is golden, about 50 minutes.  You may need to place baking sheet under pie to catch juices that may bubble out.  Also, if top of pie is golden and about 40 minutes, you can cover with foil to prevent further darkening.  Transfer to rack; cool at least 2 hours (unless your family demands to eat it while warm).  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

1/2 Whole Wheat Artisan Bread

Beautiful Loaf

Last week I shared a YouTube video demonstrating how to bake Artisan Bread from the authors of Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a day.

Today I decided to try the bread with 1/2 whole wheat flour.  It turned out GREAT!

In case you missed the video, here it is:

So to recap:

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 cups warm water
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups all-purpose flour

Combine all ingredients in large bowl.  Stir with wooden spoon until flour is mostly worked in.  There is no need to knead or overwork the dough.

Allow to rise for 2 hours.

Today we divided the dough into two large loaves.  Work dough into round loaves.  Place on cornmeal covered wood working surface.  Allow to rise an additional 40 minutes.

The cornmeal on the wood surface allows the bread loaf
to easily slide onto the stone in the oven

While bread is rising, heat oven to 425 degrees.  While heating, place cooking stone (if you have one) in oven.  About 10 minutes before placing bread on stone, place the additional cooking pan (for water) in the oven to heat up.

After 40 minutes, place bread loaf on stone; pour water in baking pan below the stone.  This should steam.

Cook about 20 minutes or until nice golden brown.

Fresh out of the oven

The kids love fresh baked bread!

Maybe next time I'll try 100% whole wheat.

Enjoy!

Paleo Dinner: Spicy Meaty Chili

It's a rainy, chilly day in Southern California.  This is a perfect day for a big pot of spicy chili to warm the bones.

Rainy Day Paleo Spicy Chili

Ingredients

2 lbs ground beef

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

1-28 oz. can whole tomatoes with juice, slightly chop tomatoes with kitchen shears before adding

2- 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

1- 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes with jalapenos and chile peppers

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons Emeril's Baby Bam (see recipe following)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Brown ground beef.  Drain off fat.  Add garlic, onion, green pepper, and onion. Cook for a few minutes until vegetables are slightly softened.  Add tomatoes and seasonings.    Stir well and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.  Stir occasionally so tomatoes don't stick to bottom of pan.  Enjoy!

Hearty!  Meaty!  Paleo!  Yum!

Baby Bam

from Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients
3 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Combine and place in airtight container.