QUICK and DELICIOUS DESSERT

We had a friend over for dinner the other night, our last time seeing him before he becomes a married man. I am so excited for him. He is such a nice fellow and I love that he is always so positive and hopeful. It's kind of contagious when you are around him. He has a very long trip to India this weekend. My husband and I would so love to go. There will be 2000 people at his wedding. No that is not a typo for 200, I really meant 2000. He said it is not uncommon in India to have so many people.

I made him dinner and would love to show you a picture but you will have to wait until the next time I make it. It was so gobbled up by all of us. But I do have a pic of dessert to share.

You know I was so focused on making the main meal that I forgot to make something for dessert. I know probably most of you have made these but in case there is someone out there who has missed out, these are a must try for you. They come together very quickly.

Saltine Cracker Toffee

21 plus Saltine crackers
2 sticks real butter
1 cup sugar
12 oz. real milk chocolate chips

Line a cookie sheet with foil, making sure there are no holes or cracks. If you overlap foil just make sure it is sealed. Cover entire bottom of pan with whole saltines, letting foil extend up sides of pan. For three minutes, boil butter and sugar. Pour over crackers. Bake for 5 minutes at 400 degrees. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and allow to soften in oven. Remove from oven and spread chocolate evenly. Let cool and harden. Peel foil off and break candy into pieces.

CRUNCH ON

Recently I found these great nut snacks at our local health food store. They are crunchy bars of nuts coated in sugar. My daughter and I love them but the pocketbook not so much. So with all kinds of nuts in my freezer (they keep better there), I decided to try my hand at making these. Next time I think I will add a pinch of cinnamon and some honey. They came out great though. They are such a treat.

Nut Crunch

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pepita
1/4 cup Brazil nuts, chopped
1/2 cup cashews, chopped

Butter a standard size cookie sheet and set aside. In a large sauce pan add nuts and toast nuts, being careful not to scorch the nuts. Remove from heat and set aside. In the same pan, place 1 1/2 cups sugar, heat over med high heat. Try not to stir. Heat until sugar melts. Add nuts and stir to combine. Pour into prepared baking sheet. Quickly smooth mixture out to desired thickness. Score the mixture in the size pieces that you would like. Store in an air tight container at room temperature.

Happy St. Paddy's Day

You know on St. Patty's Day, everyone is Irish. No matter where your ancestors or you came from, you can don some green and drink some green and eat some green! I love corned beef and cabbage. I have it once a year, St. Patty's Day. But if the truth be told, its not really an Irish dish per se. How it got to be that status I do not know. I think a more traditional meal in Ireland would be salmon or some other fish. Here is a quote from About.

"... this celebration was not the only interruption of the lent fast. Since the late 11th century meat was eaten in honor of Patrick - a tradition that emerged from a wrong interpretation of a legend.

Apparently Saint Patrick had tucked away some roast pork for "emergencies" during lent. When he finally took the pork from hiding it was out of remorse. He had just decided to become a vegetarian and asked God for a sign. Promptly an angel appeared and relayed the message to throw the roast pork into the nearest stream. Patrick did so, the pork was transformed into fishes, swimming off lively.

Thus it came to pass that roast pork was called "Saint Patrick's Fish" in Ireland. And as fish is allowed during lent, "Saint Patrick's Fish" was certainly allowed on March 17th!..." Click here to find out more.

And of course macarons are SO NOT Irish, they are French. But hey if were all pretending to be Irish when St. Patty's Day comes then why not these minty macarons!

Mint Macarons with Bittersweet Ganache

125 grams almond flour
225 grams powdered sugar
100 grams egg whites(that have been at room temp for 24 hours)
25 grams sugar

Preheat oven to 300 °F . Combine almond flour and confectioners together in a bowl and stir to combine. In a mixing bowl whip egg whites at medium speed. When they begin to get foamy add the granulated sugar slowly. Beat until the whites form medium-peaks and are still glossy.

Fold in your dry ingredients slowly to the meringue. I our it all in, kind of on the side of the bowl and begin to incorporate it from there.

Pipe the batter to a diameter of about an inch. And let rest for 20 to 30 minutes before baking. Bake for about 11 minutes or until done, turning the sheets halfway through.

BITTERSWEET GANACHE

2 cups bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup light cream

Heat milk and add the warm milk to the chocolate. Stir until all chocolate is melted. Spread on to the macarons.

Maine Potato Candy

I saw this recipe in Taste of Home years ago. I have been wanting to make it for a while. I like Mounds and thought this would be similar. It is similar, but the chocolate coating has to be perfected. I wasn't totally jazzed about it. It's good but it is very sweet and very rich. I think I would rather have a piece of that fudge!

If this sounds like it might tickle your Christmas fancy or you know of a great way to bathe it in chocolate, give it a try and let me know. I think the title should be changed to Coconut candy though, since coconut plays a staring role in it. The potato has a very small part in this.

MAINE POTATO CANDY
from Taste of Home

4 cups confectioners sugar
4 cups shredded coconut
3/4 cup cold, plain, mashed potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
chocolate for coating the candy

In a bowl mix together all ingredients; coconut, confectioers sugar, mashed potatoes, vanilla and salt. Thoroughly combine. Press into 9 inch square pan that ahs been lined with foil. Chill overnight. Cut into small pieces, about the size of a mini chocolate bar and place on a cookie sheet to freeze.

Prepare chocolate and remove the little bars from the freezer. Dip in chocolate to cover, place on sheets of waxed papers to set. Chill again.

DON'T BEGRUDGE the FUDGE

Eat fudge, give fudge. It's so good. Especially this fudge. I found the recipe at Food Blogga. It is really the best fudge I have ever had, mainly because it is about half the sweetness of regular fudge. I like that. I highly recommend this recipe. I will be making another batch tonite! Yup, that's how good it is!



Cranberry Pistachio Fudge

1 cup pistachios (I used salted)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 oz (1/2 stick) butter

Combine butter, chocolate, and sweetened condensed milk. Heat until chocolate is melted. Stir continuously. When chocolate is melted remove from heat and add cracker crumbs, vanilla, pistachios, and cranberries. Pour into a 9 inch buttered square pan. Smooth out top and refrigerate overnight.

Crystalized Ginger

Over the Thanksgiving holiday my sister-in-law came to visit. "M" told me that she eats crystalized ginger. I thought this was quite interesting and revelational. I have some but I use it for baking and that's about it. Well she tells me she eats it after a meal to cure her sweet tooth so that she doesnt eat a bunch of sweets. She bought a can of it at Marshalls while she was here. I tried it, of course I have some at home but I had to try hers. AND aruuuuuuuuuuuuga (thats me making my siren sound, yah know, like a fire engine). Ehem. It's hot, ginger hot. And I love it! It needs to be a part of my repertoire for fiending away sweets. Of course that would be after the Holidays. No person in their right mind would start a diet during the Holidays. Would they? Well I'm not.

So I decided then and there that I could not afford these cans of ginger but I was going to make them instead. I'm like that, it's a condition. It's called, "I-am-not-paying-those-big-prices-for-stuff-I-can-make-at-home", condition. Although not serious, people do classify me as crazy. I don't put my "M" down because her circumstances are different. She's single to begin with and there seems to be more disposable income around when you do not have kids around. Yah know?

Not too long after that revelational encounter with ginger I see Dave Lebovitz making crystalized ginger and hey- I am not the only one with the aforementioned condition! I will try his recipe next. In the mean time I did try this one. Although not completely satisfied with the results, they are edible and gingery and good nonetheless. There are a few variables to take into consideration. How old was the ginger I used? And did I leave it in hot water too long because my big bro from Tennessee called and ginger couldnt stop me from talking to him!


CRYSTALIZED GINGER
adapted from About

1 pound ginger, I chinked it instead of slicing it)
roughly 2 cups of sugar
water

Peel and cut ginger into small pieces or slices. Place in sauce pan and fill with water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and drain. Weigh the ginger and place an equal amount of sugar back in the pan with the ginger. Add about 3 tablespoons of water. Go lightly here. Turn on the flame and cook until the mixture begins to dry out and crystals begin to form. It will look like the picture below.