Foolish Morsel

That means cookies for Santa!  These were taken with my phone, so the quality isn’t the greatest…The chippies were for us, but the snowflakes were for the big man…Judging from the loot, he liked ‘em!  ; )

So I could only make so many of these.  It’s Rugelach with a cream cheese pastry, filled with chocolate chips and currants, and cinnamon sugar, yum! Christmas has been busy here, to say the least! I am hesitant to post the recipe as it belongs to Williams-Sonoma, but if you go to the library, it’s in their Cookies & Biscotti, or you can comment on this post and I’ll send it to you! : )

I hadn’t made caramel corn in several years, and I don’t know why, it’s so easy! I adapted this recipe from Bon Appétit, I didn’t care for how theirs came out, so I omitted some things, and changed it a bit…enjoy!

Pop 1/4 to 1/2 cup of popcorn kernels (old school, not one of those bags)

1 cup chopped pecans

1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 250F and generously butter a large jelly roll pan.  Mix pecans and popped corn on prepared pan…

Combine brown sugar, butter and corn syrup in heavy medium saucepan.  Whisk over low heat until butter has melted and sugar has dissolved.  Clip on candy thermometer, and increase heat to bring mixture to boil without stirring.  When thermometer reaches 255F removed from heat and mix in vanilla, salt, then baking soda…Mix WELL mixture will bubble up a bit…Gradually pour over popcorn and pecans stirring with a buttered spatula to coat evenly.  This is difficult, but you’ll get another chance to even it out.  Place in the oven for about ten minutes, remove and stir again, gently, with a buttered spatula…let cool and it will last about a week in an airtight container or ziploc bag, that is, if no one eats it!  ; )

I’ve been making some Christmas cookies, here’s a look at Round 1…It’s a Martha recipe and they rock! However, you would think her staff would put together a variety of cookies that last longer than three days. That’s what the recipes say anyway.  So, technically, we’re all supposed bake the 11th hour before a party or get together in order to get the freshest cookies possible? Talk about an overwhelming undertaking… What about shipping them?  A lot of us do that, I mean, how about at least a week refrigerated or something? I mean, I love my fam and friends, but I won’t be spending the cash to overnight them, that’s for sure!  Well, it’s winter, and I say, these things’ll keep in the cooler weather…Tell me what you think!

© andi butler

I was reprimanded yesterday for not updating my blogs often enough, so here’s my latest, french toast made from a brioche bread (that my husband made) and I actually did bake this one as well!  I used the same recipe that I normally do (you can find it in an earlier post) but more of it, since you have to soak each slice for about thirty seconds, brown on both sides in a pan with real butter, and then off they go in a 375 degree over for about five minutes…The bread is sweet to begin with!   I froze them…Yum…

a : )

all photos ©andi butler 2008

I made two different kinds for my friend’s daughter’s birthday party: Chocolate with chocolate pudding filling, and cream cheese frosting, and, yellow cake with cheesecake flavored pudding filling with cream cheese frosting…I made minis that weren’t filled, but just as yummy, only smaller!  ; )

©andi butler

I made french toast and pancakes for the boys, a ton of them!  I like to freeze them and pop them in the microwave, they’re almost as good as when they’re made fresh, and I know what’s in them, and the boys are getting a great start before school! I’d never frozen french toast though, and I decided to try my hand at putting together my own simple recipe. I’d seen lots of recipes that had either vanilla or cinnamon, but not both, and I like both, it was delish, so here it is!

4 slices white bread cut in half diagonally (Trader Joe’s has a great Canadian White that I use, great for grilled cheese too!)

3 eggs

3Tbs milk

2Tbs sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Whisk all ingredients together, soak the half slices of bread in the mixture and fry ‘em up in butter…Yummo!

© andi butler

Well, you don’t have to, these are cuppies, after all!  Today Owen had his birthday party at Brunswick Zone. It’s a busy place, lots of fun, but not a good place to wield a sharp knife, so cuppies and dibs (yeah, those lil’ ice cream thingies with magic shell on ‘em) are the best choice for a six year old’s birthday! I made Star Wars vanilla cupcakes with cheesecake flavored pudding for the kids (Owen’s Mace Windu was a little too big to stand on his Jumbo cupcake), and banana cupcakes for the grown ups.  Both had cream cheese icing and the banana had pecans as well…Actually, I modified the recipe from my friend Sandi (a few posts ago) for cupcakes: replace the half and half with buttermilk, take the temp down to 350, for a hair under 20 minutes, and fill the cups HALF WAY, no more, about 10 minutes in they rise, pretty high!  I used the candy cups for them, but you can use a cupcake pan as well…There were also vanilla minis with cream cheese icing just in case the normal size was too much!  I get to make another cake on Tuesday, for Owen’s actually birthday..Yummy!

©andi butler

Remember a few posts ago I mentioned I couldn’t pick blueberries as I was in class?  It was one just like this, and I passed!! 95%…Now I’m a food safety manager person, certified by the faboo State of Illinois!  Ta Da!  My kitchen is squeaky clean, and Kevin is getting aggravated with me because I am using dishes and utensils for every little thing (can’t use the same spatula for cooked meat that ya did for raw, ya know)!  And offering a little too much info regarding parasites, viruses and bacteria…(well, that was my favorite part of the class)…But at least everyone knows, that they won’t get sick from my cuppies (about 30% of food poisoning is from your own house)! Yum! ; )