Happy Holidays!

I have been completely off track with blogging and Tuesdays with Dorie since Thanksgiving hit.  There are just so many other things to do during the holidays!  I wanted to bake this week’s pecan pie, but life became consumed with cookies instead.  This year, for Christmas, it’s just the two of us.  I don’t have a group of people coming over for dinner, and not being huge fans of pecan pie, I didn’t want to make a whole one for just the two of us.  There have been plenty of other things coming out of our kitchen.  There are the cookies above, Norwegian Butter Cookies from the March 1983 issue of Gourmet (I must mention those adorable Christmas tree tins – I am kicking myself for not grabbing a few more).

Bacon, Scallion and Cheddar Scones

I usually associate scones as a sweet food, but I recently tried out a savory scone recipe that was absolutely delicious.  As much as I’d love to whip up a batch of sweet scones for a weekend brunch (this recipe looks especially tempting), my husband doesn’t really like sweet foods much and prefers savory breakfast foods (eggs, bacon, potatoes, etc.).

Holiday Recipes from Domino Sugar

A representative from Domino Sugar contacted me last week to see if I was interested in featuring one of their holiday gift ideas in a post.  They sent me a $20 Visa gift card to help out with expenses in making one of their recipes.  I was excited to browse their homemade holiday gift page.  It gave me a sense of excitement for the upcoming holiday season.  Especially in a tough economic environment, homemade gifts are an affordable and thoughtful way to show someone you care about them this season.

Thanksgiving and All-in-one Holiday Cake (TWD)

I made  Dorie’s All-in-one holiday cake a couple of weeks ago for a large early Thanksgiving gathering.  It was a hit!  I only got a few leftover crumbs, but I took it as a good sign that everybody polished it off.  It smelled awesome coming out of the oven.  I love using fresh cranberries in baking!  I would definitely make this again sometime.  I didn’t make any modifications to Dorie’s recipe.  For those not familiar with the concept of this cake, it is a bundt cake with pumpkin, apple, and cranberries!  I omitted the nuts as I was feeding a large crowd and didn’t want to risk someone being allergic.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

As a kid, I didn’t like cake.  Even though my birthday is in December and I grew up in Connecticut, where December usually meant frosty temperatures and snow, I always requested an ice cream cake for my birthday because I didn’t like cake.  I think this is because I grew up without ever having a cake from scratch.  My mom bakes Chinese style sponge cakes from scratch, but as for American style chocolate cakes, she always used a box.  So did my mom’s friends.  And frosting from a can.  Even as a kid, I knew better than to enjoy that stuff.

Projects

Not much of a post.  I’m anxious waiting to hear about a job, so I spent a couple of hours today wrapping lots and lots of wontons and putting them in the freezer for quick meals in the future.  Working with my hands helps to keep me calm!   I’ll include my recipe for my favorite wonton filling, pork & shrimp.

Pork & Shrimp Wonton Filling

• 1 lb ground pork
• 1 cup shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped in small pieces (but not minced)
• 1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp rice vinegar
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• white pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup minced shiitake mushrooms (rehydrated, if using dried) – optional

This filling will make around 60 wontons.

When freezing wontons, lay them out so they’re not touching each other on a baking sheet and stick in the freezer for 20 minutes.  Then you can move them into a zipbloc bag (otherwise, they will stick together if you don’t freeze them separately first).  I love having these in the freezer for a quick meal or snack in a moment’s notice!

TWD (Molasses Spice Cookies) and More

Life has been a flurry of activity lately.  We had a dear friend visiting; someone whose presence I started to miss the minute we dropped him back off at the airport after a couple of days together.  I baked this apple pie for him, and felt for the first time that I got my all-butter crust absolutely perfect – and I didn’t follow a recipe for the pie, just instincts and kept it very basic (granny smith apples tossed w/ cinnamon and sugar, a sprinkling of panko on the bottom crust to minimize sogginess).

And then there were these awesome scones for brunch – bacon, cheddar and scallion scones, which I will write about soon and share the recipe – they were so, so good and perfect as part of a special brunch spread.

After the weekend, I was absolutely drained.  But I thought I was still up for baking Dorie’s Molasses Spice Cookies.  I’ve made them before and they were perfect.  I knew they were easy, and sure enough, the dough came together in minutes.  I stuck it in the fridge for a few hours, rolled them out in little balls, tossed them into a bowl of sugar, and flattened them with my palm on a baking sheet.  They looked perfect going into the oven.

Tuesdays with Dorie – Cherry Fudge Brownie Torte

This is the first Tuesdays with Dorie recipe that I changed somewhat dramatically.  The recipe called for a thick cherry-accented brownie base topped with a mascarpone/cream cheese mousse after baking.  I followed the brownie recipe almost exactly, but instead of baking it and then topping it with the mousse, I altered the mousse recipe to make a cheesecake layer for the brownie, swirled it lightly, and then baked it all together.

Tuesdays with Dorie – Sweet Potato Biscuits

I absolutely love sweet potatoes, so I was excited about this week’s TWD project!  I made these as part of our Sunday morning brunch spread (along with an apple crisp and bacon – a strange brunch, to say the least!).  I halved the recipe and found it to be a very easy dough to work with.  I always freeze my butter for about 30 minutes before I make biscuits, and I didn’t think I overworked the dough, but  my biscuits didn’t rise as high as I would have liked.  A few other people mentioned this over at the P&Q page for this week so I’m glad I wasn’t alone.  Perhaps it was my own fault for spending the last five minutes of baking time staring at the biscuits through the oven door hoping they would rise more!  Perhaps a watched biscuit doesn’t rise? 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Quick post today!  I made this recipe from Everyday Food except in cupcake form.  I used bittersweet chocolate, baked them for 21 minutes and came out with 20 lovely little pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes that were a huge hit.  Make these!!  They’re quick, easy and so good.    And your home will smell like fall as they’re baking.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!