A CRAFT and A COOKIE #4

You know those peanut butter blossom cookies? The ones with a kiss in the middle. Well, I plan to make them as my brother will be here for Christmas (HOORAY). They are one of his favorites. But I wanted to make chocolate ones as well, with mint kisses in the middle. It was a good idea because they came out REALLY good. It was a bad idea because they have little mouths that keep calling me to come on over and eat them. Did you know cookies can be really loud? Dang. That chocolate dough will stay right in the freezer until the very last minute. Thank goodness I only made twelve.

MINT KISS COOKIES

16 ounces/ 1 pound bittersweet morsels
1 cup/ 2 stickes unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
12 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
mint kisses, unwrapped

Melt bittersweet morsels, unsweetened chocolate and butter in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Stir often and heat just until it is melted. Remove from heat. Pour into a large bowl. Stir in sugar. Let stand for about 30 minutes.

Add eggs one at a time to chocolate mixture. Stirring until fully incorporated before adding the next egg. Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Pour that into the chocolate mixture. Finally, add the chocolate semisweet morsels.

Refrigerate for at least an hour. Scoop out with a cookie scoop. Drop ball onto greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 325 F oven for about ten minutes. Remove from heat, immediately press kiss into cookie. If you dont mind them melted, you can return to the oven for one minute more. Otherwise leave them in the cookie and let it rest on cookie sheet for one minute and then transfer to a wire rack. You can also put te kisses in the freezer so they will not melt as fast.

I used 14 gauge wire and wound it around a handle to one of my kitchen tools. I then pulled it so that the spiral stretched out a little. My kids strung beads on them and then we decorated with ribbon. A cute craft for kids.

TURKEY TIPS, post Thanksgiving

A typical lunch following Thanksgiving.

I am so happy to report to you that today is the last of my turkey left overs, whew. I am grateful though to have leftovers since there are so many people that don't even have food. So no complaints here but just happy to report that I can move onto some new flavors. Before I do I want to share with you my favorite Thanksgiving money saving tip!

The week after Thanksgiving, usually that Monday, I head on out to Sam's. Although you can find deals other places. I buy two turkeys. I know you are thinking, turkey overload. But, hey, this is the time when they are really marking them down so they can get rid of any left over turkeys.

I bring them home and defrost them thoroughly. I cut them up. Save the turkey legs for a dinner and freeze it. I then take as much meat of as possible and grind it up. This year I got about 4 1/2 pounds of ground turkey meat from one 20 pound bird. Then I put the carcass, the neck, and any other bones, along with the skin and roast it all in the oven until golden. I empty all that into a big pot along with celery, carrots, onions, bay leaf, and peppercorns. I boil that for about 2 1/2 hours or so. Strain it and put it in my garage over night (pretty cold out there). You can also put it in your fridge. In the morning, I scrape off the fat and voila, tastey turkey broth, sodium free. Then, when you make soup, you can add the amount of desired salt.

Now, usually after I strain the carcass, there are some meat bits still on there. I then scrape off these and make turkey salad. Yes, I use nearly every morsel I can. It's my way of respecting the life of the bird. I know that may sound a little kooky to some of you but I figure, if this poor bird gave up his life for me and my family, I will use every last molecule I can to show my appreciation.

So there you have it. No recipe today, just and idea for you next year.

CRANBERRY CRAZY

Each year my love affair with cranberries grows even stronger. This year I bout one 16 oz bag and a three pound bag of them. OMG. Am I hoarder? Ah, yeah, that would be me. But you know, I made the typical cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, cooked with orange juice and grated zest. I added red wine and should have left it at that cause it was real good. Unfortunately, I added about a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and in my opinion it kind of stole the show. At least from the cranberries.

I also made Martha's cranberry chutney. My sister in law and I both felt there was something missing in that. I think I will add grated ginger to it the next time I make it. That probably would do it.

The real star, the one pictured above was cranberry salsa. Folks, it was outstanding. I am not sure if it would be outstanding in everyone's book. It sure made a disappearing act here on Thanksgiving day.

CRANBERRY SALSA
Lori's Lipsmacing Goodness Original

1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup of water
16 oz. bag of cranberries
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of sugar
6 scallions, chopped
1/2 cup of cilantro
chilis or jalapeno to taste

In a sauce pan combine water, salt, sugar, cranberries and onion. Cook until cranberries have popped. If water runs out at a little at a time. You should end up with a fairly thick sauce. If you find it still is too tart, add a little sugar at a time to get the desired taste. Remove from heat and add chopped cilantro, green onions and chilis. It is best to chill it overnight to let the flavors marry.

ESPRESSO COOKIES

I go to the Epicurious site a lot. I always have. I just love how user friendly it is and they have a great database for recipes. I went there yesterday morning, looking for an espresso cookie. I wanted a grown up type chocolate/coffee cookie. I found this recipe there. Have to love the comments people leave. Sometimes people slam a recipe and I make it anyway and it is oh so good. So I guess you have to take the comments with a grain of salt, eh? These were not brownie like as one commenter proposed. I thought they were a yummy, chewy, chocolate/ coffee cookie as another reader comenter proposed.

I did change it up a bit as I thought the batter was too runny. This may have a lot to do with how cooled your chocolate is. Oh yes melted chocolate loveliness!

I also had some caramel swirl chips to use up. I opted to use these nstead of choco chips. I figured, if I like Caramel coffee, than why not caramel coffee cookies. They turned out great. Next time though I want to use the chocolate chips for a more fudgy affect.

CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO COOKIES
adapted from a recipe from Epicurious, March 1997

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 2/3 cups (10 ounces) caramel swirl chips
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 large eggs, room temp
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon espresso
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 2 large heavy baking sheets.

In a microwave safe bowl combine butter and chocolate and melt in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds or so until just melted. Make sure chocolate is at room temp before adding to the mix.

In a bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs, sugar, and ground coffee on high speed until very thick and pale and mixture forms a ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 3 minutes, and beat in chocolate mixture.

Pour flour, baking powder, and salt into the mixture. Stir until just combined. Stir in remaining caramel chips and walnuts.

Drop batter by heaping tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto baking sheets and bake in batched in middle of oven 8 to 10 minutes, or until puffed and cracked on top. Cool cookies in baking sheets 1 minute and transfer to racks to cool completely.

Aplets from Washington

So back in September when my blog had 100 posts, I decided to start a new feature. I have this old, old book of recipes that is called, America Cooks, by The Browns, published by Norton and Company, 1940. It is so old, in fact, that there are only 48 states represented in it. There are some very interesting recipes in the book, including squirrel recipes and such. Not that squirrel is a bad thing. I imagine that if meat was hard to come by I would start trapping squirrels and rabbits in my backyard. Well I would have to eat beans a lot more too! Which is not a bad thing.

In doing a search for the book, I found this link. I didnt know my book was worth so much. Too funny. That was published in 1948 and mine was published in 1940. I wonder if that makes it worth more? No matter, it's from my Mom, priceless!

The following recipe is for "Aplets" and it is from Washington.

APLETS
America Cooks, by The Browns

4 cups apple pulp
4 cups sugar
4 tablespoons gelatin
1 cup cold water
3 cups chopped nuts
1/4 teaspoon rose water

"Use Jonathan apples or Winesaps. Cut up and cook with sugar in as little water as possible. Drain and press through a sieve. Soften gelatin in water; add to apple pulp and mix thoroughly. Add nuts and rose water after mixture has partially cooled. Pour into buttered pans 3/4 inch thick. Let harden, cut in even pieces, and roll in powdered sugar.

Aplets are the most genial palate ticklers, that have come our way since the advent of fudge. They are done up commercially at the Liberty Orchards in the Wenatchee Valley."

My notes:

I used mac intosh apples.
I opted out of using nuts as I like the creamy smoothness of these confections.
I also did not press through a sieve, I used a ricer. A little messy but it managed to take out the fibers that were tough.

A CRAFT and A COOKIE #3

I must tell you this cookie is amazing. I took a recipe that sounded pretty good and tweaked it a lot. It made one amazing cookie. My Dad loves Pecan Sandies. I think they are made by Keebler. They are good, but wow, are they ever sweet. I decided I needed to give this recipe a go. I am so glad I did. Not only is it easy, it is delicious. Running the nuts through the processor may seem like a lot of work but in the end you are left with a lot of cookies for your efforts. That is good for this time of year. You just give them away! Also, it is one of those recipes you can make ahead of time and freeze the dough. When you are ready to make them just defrost, slice and bake.

Pecan Sandies
Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness Original

2 3/4 cups pecans, toasted
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, unsalted and chilled
2 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Process nuts and sugars in processor. Add butter. Transfer to a mixer with a paddle attachment. Add eggs, salt, vanilla and flour. Divide dough into four equal portions. Roll into a log on waxed paper. Chill dough in fridge for at least forty five minutes or overnight. (You can also freeze the log for later use). Slice into 1/4 inch rounds. Place a pecan on top or roll sides in beaten egg, then chopped pecans. Place on sprayed cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for about 12 to 15 minutes. Sides will be a little golden.

No, I did not purposely roll that gold string into the letter "L" but it would have been a good idea. It did just kind of lay itself that way. Too funny. I got this idea from the internet. I used Christmas cards from last year. I am glad I saved them. You can make them bigger by adding more panels. The original inspiration comes from here.

Recipes to Rival: November Challenge, Butternut Squash Soup with Miso

Fall is of course soup time. With it's warm steamy presence on a cool day, nothing could be more comforting. Well, I guess there are a few things that are more comforting.

This soup is so incredibly tastey. I really would have never thought of putting miso with butternut squash but hey that's why I love Recipes to Rival. You make recipes that you might not necessarily think of making. And, so far, I have been wowed by all the recipes.

I highly recommend making this soup. I used butternut as I seem to have a surplus of it right now. The creme fraiche with vanilla was okay. For me the flavor in this soup that really made it great, was the miso.

Click here to see the full, Recipes to Rival, blog post.

Squash Soup with Vanilla Creme Fraiche
Top Chef recipe
Please see the original inspiration here.

Prep Time: one hour and 30 minutes
Serves: more than 8 (I estimate about 20)
Spike & Andrew's recipe:

Mirepoix:

3 sliced leek bottoms (rinsed)
4 carrots (peeled and sliced)
10 shallots (peeled and sliced)
1 clove garlic
1/2 lb butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup miso stir
Salt and pepper

Squash:

butternut
Oil for rubbing
Salt and pepper

Vegetable Stock:

4 quarts water
2 white onions
4 carrots, peeled
2 leeks
6-8 button mushrooms
Bouquet garnish (parsley, bay leaves, peppercorns)

I used turkey stock.

Vanilla Creme Fraiche:

Creme fraiche
2 vanilla beans

Additional Ingredients:

Salt to taste
Cayenne to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Mirepoix:
Sweat all of the vegetables with butter. Sweat down and deglaze with honey. Stir and add miso. Season with salt and pepper.
Squash:
Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and reserve one butternut head for garnish. Rub squash with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place one piece of sage under every piece of squash. Place squash face down on a sheet tray and roast at 350 degrees until done. Scoop flesh out and pass through a ricer.
Vegetable Stock:
In a pot, boil all ingredients together with the exception of the bouquet garnishes. (NOTE:allow to simmer for at least 1 hour)
Vanilla Creme Fraiche:
Whip creme fraiche and scrape vanilla beans and fold in.
Soup:
Combine squash and vegetable stock to desired consistency. Add mirepoix and cook. Blend with a vita prep and strain through a chinois. Season with salt and cayenne.
To Plate:
Add 6 ounces of soup in bowl and spoon in creme fraiche. Garnish with bouquet garnishes.