Blog Surfing - Holiday Style

More Christmas/Holiday or Baking themed recipes. Christmas is two weeks from today! Yah!!

From Recipe Shoebox: White Chocolate Macadamia Brownies, 30 Minute Fudge Pie,  Jam Filled Cream Cookies, Chocolate-Peppermint Cake Roll, Brownie Crackles

From Cooking with Christine: Hot Cocoa Mix

From My Kitchen Cafe: Truffle Hot Chocolate Balls, Almond Roca,
Soft Chocolate Caramels,

From Taste and Tell: Chocolate Covered Cherry Delights

From Real Mom Kitchen: Mint Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Cookies

From Tasty Kitchen: Chocolate Filled Snowballs, Holiday Sugar Cookies, Candied Cinnamon and Sugar Almonds, Dark Chocolate Truffles, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bark, Marzipan Shortbread, Sticky Gingerbread, Chocolate Chip Biscotti, Double Chocolate Chip Nutty Biscotti, Mama's Morning Lemon Curd, Divinity, Christmas Rocks aka Fruitcake Cookies,  Coconut Cream Scones, Easy No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies, Cinnamon Cookies

From One Perfect Bite: My Christmas Cookie Round-Up, My Christmas Bread Round-Up, 

From Luna Cafe: Ginger Spice Stars, Cinnamon Hot and Orange Shortbread, Chocolate Warm Winter Spice Butter Crisps

From Simple Bites: Simple Shortbread: One Recipe, Four Cookies

From Love and Homemade Recipes: Tips for Decorating Cookies

From Our Krazy Kitchen: Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

From Menonite Girls Can Cook: Lebkuchen, Cheese Puffs

From Kittencal's Kitchen: Easy Holiday Magic Cranberry Bars, Gingerbread Cookies with Icing that Hardens

From Bless Us O Lord: Crisp Vanilla Biscotti

From Une-deux senses: Red Velvet Hot Cocoa with Cream Cheese

From Smitten Kitchen: Roasted Chestnut Cookies

From Culinary Concoctions by Peabody: White Chocolate topped Gingerbread Cookies

From Farmgirl Fare: Big and Soft Molasses-Ginger Spice Cookies

From A Recipe A Day: Savory Cheese Ball

From Andrea Meyers: Basler Brunsli Cookies

From Monster Mama: Nutty Nilla Balls

From Mommy's Kitchen: Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

From The Recipe Girl: Candy Cane Kisses

From Joy the Baker: Honey Vanilla Bean Marshmallows

From Baking Bites: White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Our First Christmas Party of the Season

We are hosting a sit down, fancy china Christmas party for about 50 people this weekend. As you are reading this post, I will be very busymaking/baking/creating and maybe even improvising, if necessary! Everything will be made fresh and from scratch, with the finest ingredients; no mixes, no pre-packaged food, etc.

This is our menu:


First Course:
Split Pea Soup
Corn Chowder


Entrees:
Elegant Chicken Cordon Bleu
Apple, Currant and Chestnut Stuffed Pork Loin with Spiced Cider Sauce
Macaroni and Cheese Supreme


Vegetables:
Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Puree with Pecan Streusel
Green Beans with Mushrooms
Honey Glazed Carrots


Warm Rolls with butter


Dessert:
Fresh Ginger Cakes with Lemon Butter Sauce and Whipped Creme Fraiche


I am making three of the recipes that I used at Thanksgiving; Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potato Puree with Pecan Streusel, and Green Beans with Mushrooms. They turned out amazing, this is a totally different crowd, so I'm sticking with three tried and true recipes. That's actually a good idea when you entertain. Make recipes that you have perfected and could make in your sleep, and your guests have loved. Just keep track of who ate what, when, so you don't serve the same meal twice!


Our plan is to serve the soup to our guests sitting at the tables. While our guests are eating their soup course, we will put the finishing touches on the 3-table buffet area; taking the food out of the ovens, adding garnishes, etc. When the food is in place, the guests will dish up their plates from both sides of the tables. Hopefully all of this will happen simultaneously. I will be happy when every one has filled their plates and are enjoying their dinner.

While everyone is eating their meal, we will be plating the dessert plate; a smear of lemon butter sauce on the plate, topped with a warm individual ginger cake, with a spoonful of whipped creme fraiche on the side.


I have got to run! I have mirepoix to chop, meat to fillet and stuff, cheese to grate, potatoes to peel, beans to blanch, mushrooms to chop, sauce to make and cakes to bake!

Don't Forget the Birds

I love watching the birds, especially in the fall and winter when most of the trees are bare and you can really see them. When I take my dogs outside, I'm always amazed at the array of birds that are busy flying from tree to tree. All their chirping and bird noises are a big distraction to the dogs. At first I was surprised that they are out doing their thing even in the rain and cold. I guess that I lived in SoCal a little too long, since that surprised me. Of course they are, they are on a continual search for food daily, no matter what the conditions are outside. 

My mom has been feeding the birds in her yard for years. She recently showed me a recipe for suet that will help keep the birds fed for the winter. I decided that I wanted to make some too. I gathered up the ingredients, including a serving of meal worms. That part was fairly gross! I wrapped my hands in saran wrap so I didn't have to touch them. If you get live meal worms, just put them in the freezer for 30 minutes. I did that but I still didn't want to touch them, even if they were dead. They give the birds a little extra protein.

In addition the the ingredients, you need at least one suet feeder. The following  recipe makes enough for 2 small feeders. You can find the feeders at most any store that has a home and garden center, especially this time of year.

I'm passing this recipe on to you in case you decide to feed the birds in your yard this winter. This recipe was very easy and took about 15 minutes to make. I hope I will see at least one little bird eating out of it soon. 

 


Enjoy feeding the birds this winter!

Love it!

A few of my favorite things...

Barefoot Contessa How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips

Starbucks VIA® Ready Brew Decaf Italian Roast Coffee by Starbucks Coffee

Always my favorite! Not for sale!

SUGAR LIP TREATMENT SPF 15 by fresh

Love it!

Always my favorite! Not for sale!

Love it!

Love it!

Gingerbread Hazelnut Toffee

A year or so ago, I tried making toffee cookies/candy, made with saltines. It sounded interesting but let's just say, I wasn't jumping up and down, ready to try it again! I'm not sure if I did something wrong during the process or what, but it was terrible, we didn't like it and I threw the whole pan away. Actually, I just remembered that I had to chisel them out of the pan before throwing them away! Not fun!

Not too long ago, during a recent recipe hunt, I saw several recipes for chocolate toffee graham treats and I marked them as a "possibility." The recipe looked very easy to put together and it used graham crackers. A few weeks ago, I had graham crackers on my list and as we were doing our Thanksgiving grocery shopping, I noticed these:

Limited Edition Gingerbread Graham Crackers

I bought a box of them and thinking there must be some great way of using them. Possibly in a graham cracker crust, dunking in milk with the grandsons, making little gingerbread houses like the one in the picture or something like that. They even have a recipe on the side of the box for Mini "Gingerbread" Loaves, so that was a possibility too. 

Then the light bulb went off! Use them in place of regular graham crackers for a version of the recipe I had found earlier! Now all I needed was a window of time to make them. Well, that was today! 

They could not be easier. First, I lined a cookie sheet with graham crackers that were broken in half. I would suggest placing them on silicone mats if you have them or at least parchment paper. 

Next, I melted the butter and brown sugar, brought it to a boil, stirring constantly. I let it boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly and then poured it over the graham crackers. I immediately spread it around with a spatula until all the graham crackers were covered. I put it into a 350 degree oven and baked it for 15 minutes. While it was in the oven, I prepared the chocolate.

I used Trader Joe's Belgium Dark Chocolate

I shaved the chocolate with a sharp knife so that it melted very quickly. You can also use a bag of chocolate chips. Have the chocolate ready to pour over when it comes out of the oven. I let it sit for a couple of minutes and then spread it around with a knife or spatula until all of the toffee was covered. If you want nuts on top, now would be the time to sprinkle them on. 

I covered half of the pan with hazelnuts

I let them cool in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes when the chocolate had set. I used a metal spatula to get them off of the pan and then I broke off pieces and set them on wax paper until they were totally cool.

Next, I broke them into pieces

The gingerbread flavor was really enhanced by the whole process, not too spicy, just right. Actually, they are really good. No, I mean they are really, really good! The gingerbread graham crackers won't be available indefinitely, so I hope that you can find them in your nearest store. You will want to make these during this holiday season.

Now they are all packed up and ready to be sent to a new home!

Enjoy!

Chewy Oatmeal Cut-Out Cookies

I knew it would be my last chance to use my fall cookie cutters. After Thanksgiving, it is everything Christmas. Besides, I really wanted to make cut-out cookies for the kids, especially the squirrels. They were so cute! It was the night before Thanksgiving and I had been cooking all day, but I really wanted to make them so the kids would have their own special little after dinner treat. I was especially excited to make them because they were a little bit healthier than most cut-out cookies with the whole wheat flour and oatmeal.

Dear hubby tried and tried to talk me out of starting a new project at 10:30p.m., but I thought I would have them made and be in bed before 11:30. Why is it that when we really want to do something, it always takes twice as long as we think it will to get it done?? Well, after I had the dough mixed and was ready to roll and cut, I noticed that the recipe said "Refrigerate for 30 minutes." They were a little damp and I knew they would be sticking to the rolling pin, so what could I do. When I saw the big hand on 9 and the little hand on 10, that last thing I wanted to do was wait an extra 30 minutes, but I did it.

I'm pointing this out to you in case you decide to make these cookies late one night, say Christmas Eve, and you have guests coming the next morning! I made it to bed before 12:30. The best part was, I got to wake my dear hubby up and tell him "Happy Anniversary!" I cut and baked half of the dough that night and put the other disc into the freezer to bake later with my Christmas cookie cutters.

Today, I pulled the cookie dough out of the freezer and let it sit for about 45 minutes, until it was pliable and easy to work with. I cut and baked them and oh, the smells that filled the house. I'm not much of a cookie decorator, but I thought these turned out cute.

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur's Whole Grain Cookbook.

Enjoy!