My Trinity of Sweets this Christmas

Well, it's official, my Christmas baking is fini! This year I made ginger cookies, butterscotch haystacks, lemon squares (per my grandmother's request), and then I have a confession to make...

I made slice and bake sugar cookies, covered them with CANNED vanilla icing (the horror), sprinkled them with red and green sugar, and LOVED them. My favorite Christmas sweets are the least home-made: the sugar cookies with icing and the haystacks. Sheesh. I considered making home-made sugar cookies and home-made vanilla buttercream icing to make my cookies a little more posh, but then I decided I was already baking and cooking so much that I would make the sugar cookies easy on myself. Plus, since I grew up on canned icing, it actually taste really good to me. Delicious, actually.

Anyway, here are the details...

Ginger Cookies

my friend AJ

Sift together:

2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream together:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Roll dough into balls and roll them in sugar.

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

EAT and ENJOY!

Butterscotch Haystacks

I don't remember :)

1 cup butterscotch chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup peanuts

2 cups chow mean noodles

In a large microwave safe bowl, microwave the butterscotch chips until melted and smooth. Stir in the peanut butter and microwave another 20 seconds or so. Stir in the peanuts and chow mein noodles. Make sure it's all well mixed and coated. Drop spoonfuls onto a wax-paper covered plate or cookie sheet and refrigerate until firm. I like to keep these store in the refrigerator so that they don't get melty and I think they taste better cold. Also, I suggest making TWO batches - they will go quick!

Lemon Squares

All Recipes

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• Zest from 1 lemon, or from 2 small lemons
• 6 Tablespoons lemon juice (I would increase this to 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 
  
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan, line with parchment paper, and grease again.
• 
  
• To make crust: In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, 2 cups of the flour, and powdered sugar until fluffy. Scrape mixture into the pan and smooth. Bake 15 minutes.
• 
  
• In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and sugar. Grate the zest of the lemon and add the zest, along with the lemon juice, to the egg mixture. Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of flour and the baking powder over the mixture. Mix until well blended. Pour the lemon mixture into the cooled crust.
• 
  
• Bake for another 35 minutes, until filling is set. Let cool before cutting. Refrigerate first for easier cutting and then I like to keep mine in the fridge.

Olive Cheese Bread

OK, I'm really on a roll with these Pioneer Woman recipes, but this one is once again due to my mother's initiative. My mother, brother and I LOVE olives. Love. And so we couldn't resist trying this bread.

Let me tell you, it is RICH. And delicious. We paired it with a simple pasta and tomatoes dish and a salad, but I ended up hardly eating the pasta at all because the bread was so rich, tasty, and filling. It was almost like French bread pizza. I think you could just eat this bread with maybe a simple salad and some red wine. I think pizza and red wine are possibly the best combination ever.

Olive Cheese Bread

Pioneer Woman

1 loaf French bread, split in half

1 6 oz jar green olives stuffed with pimentos, sliced (we bought pre-sliced ones)

2 cans black olives, drained and sliced

2 green onions (we substituted with onion powder)

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 pound Monterrey Jack cheese (we used a combo of MJ, cheddar, and mozzarella)

Mix all the ingredients together and spread on the French bread. Bake in a 325 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Then we broiled ours for 2-3 minutes until it was a little browned and bubbly. Slice and eat!

White Chocolate Cake

December's cake was a White Chocolate Cake. i decided to turn it into cupcakes and to incorporate it into my Christmas baking. Today just happened to be the day of one of my family's Christmas get-togethers, so I made the cupcakes last night and let them chill overnight for today.

I must day I've been somewhat disappointed with these recipes from Southern Cakes. I know I am not the most experienced or skilled baker around, but I've made quite a few cakes in my day and these recipes just seem to never turn out how I want them to. Maybe my expectations are too high, but I've had problems with all three cakes.

With this one, I thought turning it into cupcakes wouldn't be too hard, but the batter spilled out of the cupcakes tins and stuck to the muffin papers. As for the icing, I had visions of a super white, fluffy, buttercream-type icing. Instead I ended up with a somewhat thin icing that tasted mostly like cream cheese and very little like white chocolate and that hardens up. Not fluffy at all. And while I obsessivley adore cream cheese icing I don't really think it complements the white chocolate. White chocolate is a subtle flavor and it's kind of hidden by the cream cheese. Listen to me, I sound like a cookbook editor or something. What do I know? :)

While I was making these cupcakes I got pretty frustrated, but in the end I'm happy with the way they turned out and they taste pretty good (like I said I love cream cheese icing). I tried piping the icing onto some of them, but then it just got too soft and I was too frustrated, so I just spread the rest on. I had to immediately put them in the fridge because the icing was drooping everywhere.

The next morning I sprinkled them with green and red sugar. Originally I was going to put Christmas M&M's on them, but that was when I thought the icing was going to be thick and fluffy, not hard and thin. Nonetheless, I was pleasantly surprised with the end product. I didin't even try to decorate them with a winter theme, but incidentally I think some of the drooping icing ended up looking like snow-covered rooftops.

I hope January's red-velvet is a more rewarding experience!

Chicken Spaghetti

This is another Pioneer Woman recipe. However, it was my mom who initiated making this recipe, but I helped...a lot!

I like Chicken Spaghetti. I've only eaten it a few times before this and every time I'm pretty sure it was made with Velveeta. I like Velveeta, but I'm kind of glad PW's recipe did not include the processed cheese product.

This was a simple recipe to make and it was delicious.

Chicken Spaghetti

an adaptation from the Pioneer Woman

3-4 chicken breasts, boiled or roasted, shredded or cubed, or you could use a rotisserie chicken from the store

1 small bell pepper, chopped small

1 small onion, chopped small

4 ounces diced pimentos, drained

2 cans cream of mushroom soup (I used 1 can of a combo of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup)

1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 pound thin spaghetti, broken into 2-inch pieces, and boiled 1-2 minutes less than the package says

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated (+ 1 additional cup, set aside)

2 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon season salt

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

First, I like to saute the bell pepper and onions to make them nice and soft and take away their crunch. This is a personal preference. I think there's nothing worse than eating a nice, flavorful, somewhat soft meal and then crunching into a chunk of onion. Ruins the meal for me. So, I saute first. You could put the veggies in the dish raw though.

Then just combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl (except the 1 cup of grated cheese). Seriously. Pour the mixture into a large casserole and cover it with the reserved grated cheese. Bake for 35-45 minutes and eat!

Makes A LOT and it's very tasty!

French Breakfast Puffs

I recently almost met the Pioneer Woman at her Houston book signing. You can read about that here.

I love to cook. I love to bake. I love to look at pictures of food. I love blogs. I love to eat. I love dogs. I love to laugh. Therefore, I love PW.

I got her cookbook for my birthday in October and I've decided that eventually I am going to make everything in her cookbook. A la the Julie/Julia project, except I'm not giving myself a time limit. I just think it will be fun.

This morning I made PW's French Breakfast Puffs and they were delicious. They kind of reminded me of a cross between a scone and muffin as they were pretty dense and not too sweet on the inside. The outside, on the other hand, is covered in cinnamon and sugar, so it is quite sweet. In her book, she says that the puffs freeze and re-heat really well, which is nice, because it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to eat all 12 puffs this week!

French Breakfast Puffs

Pioneer Woman

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup sugar (+ another 1 1/2 cups, set aside)

2/3 cup shortening

2 eggs

1 cup milk

2 sticks butter, melted

3 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg with a whisk.

In a separate large bowl mix together the shortening and 1 cup of sugar. Add the 2 eggs. Now add 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the milk. Mix just until the flour is incorporated. Repeat this twice more until the flour and milk are all added.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes (mine took more like 30) or until golden.

While the puffs are baking, melt the butter in a dish and combine the 1 1/2 cups sugar and cinnamon in a separate dish.

Remove the puffs from the tins while they are still hot. Dunk them in the melted butter (I know. The decadence of this part made me feel a little squeamish. Like I was doing something really scandalous). And immediately roll them around in the cinnamon-sugar. YUM!

Makes 12 French Breakfast Puffs

Cranberry Orange Muffins

True Story: I made these muffins twice and both times I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. I was either too busy or they were gone too fast. So, when you get to the end of the post, just imagine some beautiful muffins.

In the newest edition of Cooking Light they have a section about cranberries with some very interesting facts. One little tidbit suggests making muffins with fresh cranberries in place of blueberries. That got me to thinking and I couldn't stop thinking about cranberry muffins.

There use to be this coffee place near my parents house called Oasis Coffee and they made the best low-fat cranberry muffins. I loved getting one of those with a big cup of Texas Pecan flavored coffee.

Muffins in any variety are one of my love languages and I love the tangy pop that cranberries add to muffins.

Honestly, I found this recipe just by googling "cranberry muffins" and the only changes I made were because a) I didn't have all the right ingredients and b) I forgot to do one thing the recipe said to do.

Oh well, they were (and still are) yummy!

Start by putting 3 cups of flour in a medium bowl. I was planning on using 2 cups of plain flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour just because I'm healthy like that, but THEN I discovered I only had about 1 1/3 cups of plain flour....so, the other approximately 1 2/3 cups of flour is whole wheat. Now I'm super healthy. Disregard the wine in these pictures. It has nothing to do with the recipe. Nothing.

Now add 1 cup of sugar.

1 1/2 Tablespoons of baking powder.

And 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Stir all of this together.

Now, with a pastry blender, 2 knives, or your hands cut in 1/2 cup butter. I did not have any stick butter, so I used Smart Balance butter from a tub. What? It worked. AND it was healthier.

It should look like course crumbs.

Now take 2 eggs.

And add them to 1 cup of milk.

Mix them up with a fork, in the milk.

Now add the milk/egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Don't over-stir.

Cut up 1 1/2 cups of fresh cranberries. I just cut them in half. At this point you are supposed to toss the cranberries in 1/4 cup sugar. I forgot to do that. So I guess my muffins are a little less sweet than they should be. Just call me a health nut.

Cut up 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts.

Zest yourself 2 Tablespoons of orange zest. I used clementines. All I had.

Fold all that stuff in gently.

It will look like this.

Fill paper-lined muffin tins 2/3 way full and bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

They are good warm or at room temp. With butter or without. With coffee or WITH coffee. Mmm.

Makes 18-20 muffins.

Burnt Sugar Cake

The November cake of the month for the Cake Slice Bakers was a burnt sugar cake. This was a veryyy sweet cake. I thought that cake itself tasted kind of like a giant sugar cookie. The icing was super sugary and super dense. I really couldn't even spread it very well and it didn't make enough to cover the entire cake. So, I went for the more rustic look and only iced the top of each cake layer. I still thought it looked pretty. Then I added some baked apple slices on top, which were delicious. If I ever make this cake again I would definitely add more baked apple slices, in the middle and on top. I also think this cake would taste good as a bundt cake with the icing thinned out and drizzled on top.

Also, my cake kind of sunk in the middle - not sure why - maybe because the icing weighed about 5 pounds!

Burnt Sugar Cake

Southern Cakes

Burnt Sugar Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water

Burnt Sugar Cake
3 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teasppon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1¾ cups sugar
4 eggs
½ cup Burnt Sugar Syrup

Burnt Sugar Frosting
3¾ cups powdered sugar
½ cup Burnt Sugar Syrup
¼ cup (½ stick) butter
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 – 3 Tablespoons evaporated milk

To Make the Burnt Sugar Syrup
Heat the sugar in a cast iron skillet or another heavy bottomed pan with high sides. Heat over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts into a clear brown caramel syrup. It should be the color of tea.

Gradually add the boiling water, pouring it down the sides of the pan so that if the syrup foams and bubbles up, you should be protected.

Continue cooking, stirring often, until the water combines with the syrup and turns a handsome brown syrup. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Store the cooled syrup in a sealed jar if not using right away.

To Make the Burnt Sugar Cake
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir with a fork to mix well. Stir the vanilla into the milk.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer at high speed for 2 – 3 minutes, until they are well combined. Stop now and then to scrape the bowl down. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well each time. Pour in half a cup of the burnt sugar syrup and beat well. Add a third of the flour mixture and about half of the milk, beating at a low speed, until just incorporated. Mix in another third of the flour and the rest of the milk. Finally, add the remaining flour.

Divide the batter between the cake pans and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched gently in the centre and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Turn out the cakes into the wire rack to cool completely.

To Make the Burnt Sugar Frosting
In a large bowl, combine the powdered sugar, the burnt sugar syrup, butter and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then to bring the ingredients together. Add 2 tablespoons of the milk and continue beating until the frosting is thick, soft, smooth and easy to spread. Add a little more sugar if it is thin, and a little more milk if it is too thick.