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Gingerbread Dip

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In preparing for our annual Ladies Wine Night & Cookie Exchange I was well, unprepared. There I said it. Sick, bake sales and other life stuff slowed me down.

Our cookie exchange night is something I started 4 years ago. It’s a fun night for us moms/ladies to have a fun evening without kids. We typically all bring a bottle of wine, some bites to share and in this case a dozen cookies per attendee. Since I hadn’t given the night much thought, I started thinking about a cheese ball a friend use to make back in the 90’s. Simply made with cream cheese, butter and cheese. Tasty but not so healthy. As I was thinking about the cheese ball I was eating one of my Orange Gingerbread Cookies. See where I am going with this? Somehow an AHA moment happened. And the 2 ideas collided.

I used the spice list from my gingerbread cookie and started measuring and adding to taste, carefully writing down quantities. Didn’t want it to sweet. Didn’t want it to molasses-e. In the end it turned out delicious despite my suspicions it might not. I always like more feedback when I create a recipe, so I needed me some taste testers. The only ones available were Luisa, our German student and the ladies who were coming over that night. They are always pretty keen to taste my food. Thankfully. In the end, everyone who likes gingerbread liked it. One discovery that came after the fact…if you let it sit a day or two in the fridge, the flavour somehow improves.

This dip in all fairness is a little rich. Not something you could eat tons of but definitely an enjoyable addition to a table filled with goodies. I tried it with veggies and no go. Apples didn’t really cut it for me either. Plain crackers/crisps or macaroons/shortbread did work and tasted really good. This recipe is a keeper.

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Gingerbread Dip
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer, dips,
 
Ingredients
  • 1 package cream cheese, softened
  • 3 tbsp butter, softened
  • 3 tbsp brown sugar
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp ginger
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg (fresh ground)
  • ¼ tsp cloves
  • pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Cream together cream cheese and butter in a bowl. Mix in brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and a pinch of salt.
  2. Pour into your serving bowl and sprinkle with a little more fresh grated nutmeg. Add some sprinkles if you really want to be festive.
  3. Serve with plain artisan crackers, flatbread crackers or shortbread cookies.

 

Eggnog Sugar Cookies with Candy Cane Sprinkles

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What a crazy past couple of weeks. I remember Halloween..then my son’s birthday and wham here we are just weeks away from Christmas. From frantic bake sale baking, long distance cookie swap baking to mom’s wine night & cookie exchange baking….I feel like I barely came out alive. Maybe I just take on too much every holiday season and need to rethink my strategy next year. To add to all the craziness was the onset of the sick in November. From colds, pneumonia, bronchitis, tonsillitis to ear infections..4 in our party of 5 got hit pretty hard and I was one of them. Seems the older you get the harder you fall and while I don’t usually get sick, I fell pretty hard this time. Which meant no wine for weeks. On the bright side we are all done with being sick and I refuse to let it back in the house any time soon. Bring on Christmas.

One of the cookie swaps I am involved with again this year is the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014. It’s a world wide affair but you have to be a Food Blogger to participate. For a small submission fee (goes to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer), you get matched up with other Food Bloggers in your Country. You always hope you end up with delicious cookies but that is the chance you take when you participate in something like this. It annoys me to no end to hear people complain that their cookies were not that good. Then honestly don’t participate it’s that simple since it’s for charity and it’s fun. The only thing I wish more bloggers would do is get acquainted with the more popular social media channels!! This year I sent my cookie swap cookies to BC and Saskatchewan. A little closer for me and I was happy about that (less travel time).

I had wanted to do a shortbread cookie this year. And after testing out one recipe I totally changed my game plan as I had also been wanting to create an eggnog cookie. For like years. So with just days to spare I came up with I guess a cross between a blossom cookie and a sugar cookie. I say sugar as the ingredients closely resemble a sugar cookie recipe. Took me two tries to get the ingredients right, but I did and it’s pretty darn good. I ran out of chocolate kisses so improvised with chocolate balls. I like this idea so much, my next batch of blossom style cookies will have balls and not kisses.

The cookies I received from Bloggers are: World Peace Cookies from The Blenderist, Coffee Sugar Cookies from Oven Mitt Adventures, and just received is my prettiest package yet, Sour Cherry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies by Wanna Come With. A fun way to get to know other bloggers!

This recipe makes close to 30 cookies so I had lots leftover. So much so I made these Eggnog Sugar Cookies with Candy Cane Sprinkles for another cookie swap!

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Eggnogg Sugar Cookie with Candy Cane Sprinkles
Author: 
Recipe type: cookies, desserts, snacks
Serves: 30
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 tbsp eggnog
  • 2 cups flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ cup sugar & 1 tbsp nutmeg (for rolling)
  • 3 ;Lrge candy canes crushed up fine.
  • 30 chocolate kisses or chocolate candy balls
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375F.
  2. Beat your butter. Add in both sugars and mix until sugars mixed in and smooth. Add egg, vanilla and eggnog. Beat until combined.
  3. Sift in flour, pinch of salt, baking soda and grate your nutmeg in over a sifter.
  4. Your batter consistency should not be to sticky or to dry.
  5. Take pieces of the dough and roll into 1 inch balls. Set aside.
  6. Mix ½ cup sugar with 1 tbsp freshly grated nutmeg. Roll balls in nutmeg sugar.
  7. Place on parchment lined baking sheet leaving space between cookies.
  8. Bake for 6 minutes then rotate pans.
  9. Remove wrappers from all the chocolate kisses/balls.
  10. Bake for 4 minutes then pull pan out and sprinkle a little candy cane dust in the center of each cookie. It's ok if some of it falls to the side.
  11. Put pan back in oven for an addition 2 minutes and remove from oven.
  12. Press chocolate kisses or balls into centre of each cookie. You need to work quickly as the chocolate starts to melt a little.
  13. Remove to cooling rack. I put the cookies outside in the cold (on a table) or in the fridge to help the chocolate solidify again.
  14. This batch makes about 30 cookies.

 

Roasted Garlic & Sausage Casserole

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This year I was asked to be part of The Great Cream Challenge 2014. This cross Canada recipe challenge pairs 3 Canadian Food Bloggers against each other in a special monthly cooking challenge. At the beginning of the year you pick three challenges (one per month) to participate in using real cream, and then let the recipe testing madness begin.

My first challenge was in January and called The Slow Cooker Challenge. I made a Dulce de Leche Bread Pudding and came in 2nd out of 3 bloggers. It was a ton of fun.

My second challenge quickly followed and this Roasted Garlic & Sausage Casserole, was my recipe submission for April’s The Family Brunch Challenge. A little more labour intensive with a few extra steps, but it is well worth it and perfect for a special Mother’s Day or Father’s Day Brunch at home. This time I placed…..2nd out of 3 bloggers! Foiled again ha ha but at least I lost to another Alberta Food Blogger. My 3rd and final challenge is coming up in June, so who knows, maybe third times a charm? I’ve had a great time either way and loved the friendly competition with my fellow food bloggers.

To save time you can cook up your sausage, potatoes, roast your garlic, and toast your bread cubes the night before. Assemble all the next morning and Bob’s Your Uncle. Or Fred.

Either way family breakfast casseroles started with my mom and this family breakfast casserole is a fun tradition I have continued with my own children. This version has some roasted garlic, fresh tomatillos, and is topped it with cooked bacon and fresh eggs.

It’s definitely luxurious, but then everything in moderation, right?

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Roasted Garlic & Sausage Casserole
Author: 
Recipe type: Brunch, breakfast, lunch, dinner
 
Ingredients
  • 4 croissants, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • ½ onion, chopped
  • 225 gr or 5 pork sausages
  • 3 cups yellow potatoes, cut into same sized cubes
  • 2 tomatillos (or 1 red tomato), chopped
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • 1½ cup old cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1½ cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
  • 6 eggs + 4
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tsp chives, chopped
  • ⅓ cup cooked bacon, chopped
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Spray or lightly grease an 8 x 8 baking dish. Set aside.
  3. To roast the garlic, cut ¼ - ½ inch off the top of the garlic bulb. Place on tin foil. Drizzle with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Wrap tightly with foil and roast in oven on baking sheet for 50-60 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
  4. Place croissant cubes on baking sheet. Place in 350 F oven and toast for 5 minutes. Stir pieces and toast for another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
  5. Remove sausage from casing and place in sauce pan over medium high heat. Break it up with a potato masher until it resembles smaller crumbles. Cook about 5 minutes and add your chopped onion. Continue to cook until sausage has browned and onion is soft.
  6. In a second pan over medium high heat, pour a drizzle of olive oil. Add potatoes and cook, stirring for about 5-10 minutes allowing potatoes to brown slightly and crisp. Turn heat down, season with a pinch of salt and pepper and let potatoes cook for another 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour ¼ cup of stock into the pan and place a lid on. Let steam until most of the stock has been evaporated. Remove lid and test for doneness. If needed let them cook another 5-10 minutes until soft. Remove from heat and pour into bottom of greased casserole dish.
  7. In a medium sized bowl lightly beat your eggs. Add in milk, cream, chives and a pinch of salt and pepper.
  8. On top of potatoes add your browned sausage and onions. Sprinkle on a little cheese and add your croissant cubes, nestling them into the potato and sausage mixture. Squeeze your roasted garlic out of the bulb and drop all over casserole. Sprinkle on tomatillos. Pour on egg mixture and let sit for about 15 minutes allowing bread to soak up some of the liquid.
  9. Sprinkle on the rest of the grated cheese, cover with aluminum foil and place in 350 F preheated oven for 35 minutes. Carefully remove dish from the oven and aluminum foil from the top. With the back of a spoon make 3-4 indents in the bread mixture. Crack one egg at a time into a small custard dish and slowly pour one egg into each indentation. Carefully sprinkle cooked bacon around the eggs. Return dish to oven and bake another 15-20 minutes or until the egg whites are set and yolk still runny.

 

Green Bark

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The one thing about making a chocolate bark is the variations are endless. And it’s super easy. Start with your favourite chocolate (white or brown), grab a few candies, nuts or pretzels, and you are ready to go.

I made this one yesterday, in time for St. Patrick’s Day, all the while trying to use up as much leftover Christmas baking candies as I could. Green smarties, green sprinkles, green m&m’s…it was fun sorting through it all only to realize I have a heck of a lot of Christmas candies leftover, still. I should have done this on Valentine’s Day too with all the red candies. Note to self for next year.

I considered doing a quick drizzle of milk chocolate on top, but was in too much of a hurry to get it done in time for the kids. The kids will love getting involved in making these and probably sampling the goods as they go.

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Green Bark
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, treat
Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 6 oz white chocolate (1 box of Baker's Squares) + 2 cups white chocolate wafers
  • ½ cup mixed green candies (m&m's, smarties, sprinkles)
  • ⅓ cup pretzels, broken up
Instructions
  1. Add all chocolate to a glass or microwave safe bowl.
  2. Put in microwave, set to low power, and turn on stirring every 30-40 seconds. Continue to do this until most of chocolate is melted. Depending on your microwave it should take between 2-3 minutes.
  3. Remove from microwave and stir until remaining chocolate has melted. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
  4. Stir green candies into melted & cooled chocolate. Pour onto parchment or foil lined cookie sheet (or jelly roll pan, the larger the better) and spread it out. Shaking the pan helps move the chocolate around.
  5. Refrigerate for 15-30 minutes, then break into pieces.
  6. Serve or put into plastic bags and freeze until ready to enjoy.

 

Orange Pistachio Ice Box Cookies

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This was the second batch of three ice box cookies I was testing in December. The last of the 3 turned out but one or two things didn’t, so the 3rd recipe won’t be featured on the blog. What I learned making Ice Box Cookies is you can put almost anything into them…well almost.

These cookies are both pretty to look at and easy to make. The combination of pistachios, orange and cranberries transcends both sweet and savory items and is always a winner when it comes to baking.

And I love the ice box cookie concept. Get your dough ready, roll and pop into the freezer to be made at a later date. This is something I might consider for a future cookie exchange. Each lady gets a frozen log to take home and a batch of the cookies. Fun!

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Orange Pistachio Ice Box Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: Cookies, holiday, Christmas cookies, baking, snacks,
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp orange extract
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • 1 tbsp orange juice
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ⅓ cup pistachios, shelled and chopped
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
Instructions
  1. In a bowl beat your butter with sugars until creamy. Add eggs, orange extract, orange zest and orange juice. Beat until combined.
  2. In a second bowl sift together your flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in pistachios and cranberries mixing until combined. The dough should be a little sticky and form into a ball easily. If you find it a little dry, you can add another tsp or so of orange juice.
  3. Split ball into two halves and roll each half into about a 12 inch log. Wrap in foil and put into freezer or fridge.
  4. When ready to bake cookies slice log into about ¼ inch slices. Bake in 375 F oven for about 8 minutes.

 

Old Cheddar Cheese & Bacon Fondue

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The world of fondue is a fun one. With so many varieties of fondue to create, you would seriously never get bored. This Cheese & Bacon Fondue is one of our favourites.

Old Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Fondue
Old Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Fondue

This is one of our favourite cheese fondues and it’s not your traditional Swiss style fondue. This one is loaded with old cheddar cheese and bacon. It’s extra fun because it’s always a battle at the end to fish out the last pieces of bacon. Forks are a flyin. Fighting over bacon in your cheese fondue, what a concept. Seriously though, we’ve never had an injury during Battle Bacon, and you just can’t go wrong with cheese and bacon. Another favourite of ours has beer in in.

Old Cheddar Cheese & Bacon Fondue
Old Cheddar Cheese & Bacon Fondue

When we fondue we like to have two or more fondues on the table. Cheese fondue and a meat in broth fondue. The kids are not so big on the cheese fondues yet, but love the broth ones and are always dipping their veggies in the broth as well. Which means it’s up to husband and I to ensure the cheese fondues do not go to waste. Tough job.

Old Cheddar Cheese & Bacon Fondue
Old Cheddar Cheese & Bacon Fondue

Don’t be deterred by the sour cream in this one and don’t try to cut calories by using low fat sour cream. Husband is not a sour cream fan and does not even notice there is sour cream in this fondue because #Bacon!

We love to fondue and while we only get at it a couple times a year, it’s highly anticipated around here!

Old Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Fondue
Old Cheddar Cheese and Bacon Fondue

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Old Cheddar Cheese & Bacon Fondue
Author: 
Recipe type: appetizer, dinner, lunch,
 
Ingredients
  • 6 pieces of bacon, cooked and chopped into small pieces
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
  • ½ cup old cheddar cheese, grated
  • ½ tsp dry mustard
  • ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • pinch of salt & pepper
  • pinch of fresh nutmeg
Instructions
  1. In a large pot, over low heat, warm sour cream.
  2. Add cheese by handfuls, alternating between cheeses and stirring after each addition until all cheese is melted.
  3. Add Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard and a pinch of salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg. Stir until combined.
  4. Transferred to pre warmed fondue pot and sprinkle bacon on top.
Notes
Cheese fondues are great with: mini cooked potatoes, fresh cut up veggies (mushrooms, blanched broccoli, cauliflower, red pepper, zucchini), cut up bread (french bread, bagel, rye or pumpernickel, baguette, english muffins), breadsticks, marinated artichokes or olives, cut up sausage or pepperoni.

 

Fondue Night
Fondue Night

Pink Lady Punch

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This recipe comes from my Father In Law’s girlfriend Paulette. She wrote it out for me on a little piece of paper several years ago following a visit and sampling. And like so many other recipes, I’ve been hanging on to the piece of paper shuffling it from folder to folder for safe keeping.

This is the perfect kids drink and accompanying beverage to any holiday meal. Also a tasty solution for those who are not partaking in any alcoholic beverages. It’s simply delicious and you can pretty it up by adding in some pomegranate seeds or serving it in a champagne flute.

This punch was very well received by all the kids on Christmas day, making it the perfect punch to serve at a tea party, birthday party (big or small) or any kind of gathering that involves people and fun!

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Pink Lady Punch
Author: 
Recipe type: Beverage
Serves: 10
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pkg frozen sliced strawberries
  • 1 can frozen pink lemonade
  • 1 can frozen orange juice
  • 4 cups water
  • 4 cups ginger-ale
Instructions
  1. In pitcher or punch bowl add in your pink lemonade, orange juice, water, and sliced strawberries. Stir to combine.
  2. Just before serving pour in your ginger-ale.

 

Chocolate Gingerbread Brownies

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I seemed to be a on a gingerbread kick this past Fall. Since finding a flavour combination we all love in these Five Spice Ginger Cookies, I have had so many food ideas in my head that I want to start testing. But as it goes we are at the end of the year, well, we were yesterday when I started this post, and with the craziness of getting our seafood feast ready for last evening, it didn’t get posted.

Today is a new day, and a new year full of hope and happiness. The recipe is up and I wish all of you a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Monday night some friends and I gathered later in the evening to celebrate a birthday with a few glasses of wine. Most of the ladies there as far as I know are transplants, meaning we all come from other Provinces in Canada and have no immediate family here in Calgary. I am grateful for these friends to share life’s ups and downs with when needed. A couple hours out with the girls to just chat, enjoy some bits n bites, some wine and good company always soothes the soul.

And true to form I can’t just show up at a gathering, as simple as it is, without some form of food (and wine) in hand. Last night was the perfect night to test out a few recipes on said friends, who admit they are willing guinea pigs who love to try my food. Rave reviews on these brownies and here is the recipe.

Made a couple days prior and dusted with icing sugar upon serving, these brownies are a moist, flavourful and sinfully delicious bite. I could have iced these brownies, but I felt they had enough flavour to stand alone and nobody noticed the lack of icing.

Omit the cocoa powder and you have an equally delicious Gingerbread Brownie, minus the chocolate.

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Chocolate Gingerbread Brownies
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, treats, dessert,
Serves: 10
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups flour
  • ¾ cup white sugar
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp ginger
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp cloves
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup butter, melted
  • ¾ cup molasses
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 cup chocolate chips
  • ½ cup candied ginger, chopped
  • icing sugar
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325.
  2. Combine flour through nutmeg in a large bowl.
  3. In a smaller bowl whisk together eggs, butter, molasses, milk, vanilla and water.
  4. Pour egg mixture into flour mixture and stir until combined.
  5. Fold in chocolate chips and candied ginger.
  6. Pour batter into parchment paper lined 9x11 or 9x13 baking pan and spread evenly.
  7. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  8. Cool in pan on rack.
  9. Remove brownies from parchment paper, slice and sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar just before serving.
Notes
For a thicker brownie use a 9 x 11 pan. Use a 9 x 13 pan to get a thinner brownie.

 

Frozen Candy Cane Dessert

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Frozen Candy Cane Cheesecakes
Frozen Candy Cane Cheesecakes

Always on the hunt for a light, easy, and tasty dessert, this is one of those recipes I discovered a long time ago and it quickly became a favourite. Over the years it’s evolved, and gets made differently, but the basics remain the same.  One of my favourite renditions of this treat is a Valentine’s Day version. Instead of using candy canes, I crush up cinnamon hearts. I like to experiment with this treat during holidays and change up the candy based on the event. This has been part of the fun.

This dessert is a great make ahead & take treat. Quick and easy to put together and you can make them up to one week in advance. These desserts stay in the freezer until you are ready to serve. Top with a dollop of whipped cream and crushed candy canes. It’s a light dessert that looks spectacular on a plate, and a perfect finish to a heavy meal.

This is my kind of easy during a busy holiday meal.

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Frozen Candy Cane Mousse
Recipe type: dessert
Serves: 16
 
Ingredients
  • 8oz cream cheese, softened
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1¼ cup whipping cream, whipped
  • 1 cup crushed candy canes
  • 16 foil baking cups
  • 1 cup whipping cream, whipped for serving
  • Christmas sprinkles
Instructions
  1. Drop baking cups into a 12 cup (large) muffin pan. Place extra baking cups into custard cups or another muffin pan. Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl beat your cream cheese until smooth.
  3. Add in condensed milk and vanilla, mixing to combine.
  4. Carefully fold in 1¼ cup of whipping cream and ½ cup crushed candy canes.
  5. Pour mixture into baking cups about ⅔ full. Cover with foil and freeze overnight.

 

Grandma Stimson’s Carrot Pudding

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As it goes I have had an insane month with working full time, part time and trying to keep on top of my full time hobby with all kinds of deadlines, commitments and contracts to sign. Somewhere in there add in cookie swaps, nights out and oh…I am a mom and wife too!

Enter December’s round of the Canadian Food Project. A little late, but still posted in December! The Canadian Food Project Experience was started on June 7, 2013 by Valerie Lugonja of A Canadian Foodie. It’s a compilation of Canadian Food Bloggers who are committed to sharing their time, unique regional Canadian food experiences, and recipes. We hope to bring clarity to our Canadian Culinary identity by sharing food that is important to us as Canadians.

This month’s recipe comes from my Mother-in-Law Lynda. It’s really the Baker Family Tradition carried on from the Stimson family and of course adopted by us. Which makes this recipe over 60 years old (I think). The first time I tried Grandma Stimson’s Carrot Pudding, I was hooked. This was over 10 years ago when I met my future in-laws for the first time. It was so good and there was just enough for all of us to have one serving. One serving was clearly not enough, but it definitely resonated and found it’s place in my memory. As we devoured the pudding that night many family stories were shared and some of the special ingredients in the pudding revealed. I learned carrots and potatoes were a huge part of making this pudding so fabulous. I had no idea.

Last year my in-laws made the long trek from Manitoba to spend Christmas with us. It’s always such a wonderous time when we spend it with our Manitoba family. Fortunately for me, Lynda and I made this dessert together as part of our Christmas Feast. It was a very special moment in time for me to be able to make this traditional dessert with my mother in law. A dessert that is so near and dear to my husband’s heart. It’s a moment I will cherish always.

While this is a fairly new family tradition for me, my husband fondly remembers as a young boy, helping his mom peel and grate the carrots for the pudding. She would place a small baking dish covered in foil in a large pot with water (a double boiler). The vanilla sauce was made in an electric frypan. Following turkey dinner, everyone eagerly awaited Grandma Stimson’s Carrot Pudding. This is his memory, a long standing family tradition and one I fully intend to keep alive in our family.

Notes on steaming pudding: Set a large saucepan (one that will accommodate the baking dish) with a tight fitting lid, on stove. If you have a steamer basket that will fit the baking dish use it otherwise a heat proof trivet set on the bottom of the saucepan will work. Important to note the bottom of your baking dish can not touch the bottom of the saucepan.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Grandma Stimson's Carrot Pudding
Author: 
Recipe type: dessert, christmas pudding,
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ¼ tsp cloves
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1 cup grated raw carrots
  • 1 cup grated raw potatoes
  • Cooking spray
  • Aluminum foil
  • String
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 4 tbsp flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. Spray a 1½ quart (1.4L) baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
  2. Rinse raisins in a bowl of water and let plump in water for a few minutes while assembling the rest of your ingredients.Remove from water and dry on paper towel. Set aside.
  3. In a bowl mix together 1 cup of flour, sugar, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Add raisins, carrots and potatoes mixing until combined.
  4. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Cover with a piece of foil and secure foil in place by tying string around the outside of the baking dish.
  5. Place dish in large saucepan in steamer or on trivet and pour water in around the edges about half way up your baking dish. Bring to a boil, then drop to a simmer and cover. You will need to keep an eye on the water level in the saucepan to ensure it doesn't go dry. Keep adding water as necessary.
  6. Steam for 2-3 hours. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
  7. Serve with Vanilla Sauce.
Notes
To make vanilla sauce: Mix together sugar, flour and salt. In a saucepan over medium-high heat scald your milk. Turn heat down a little and add in dry ingredients whisking until combined. Keep whisking until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve over steamed pudding.

 

Kringle’s Cookies

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These cookies should really be called the last of the Christmas baking ingredients garbage cookies because essentially that is what they are. Searching through my pantry one day looking for inspiration on a cookie, and I started coming across all kinds of last little bits of ingredients to use up…a small ziplock bag of toasted coconut…bag of pecans…leftover glazed cherries…whatever I could find that looked good is what I grabbed and tossed into these cookies.

The cookie testers (including my Uncle) loved the cookies plain, meaning without any additional dipping into the naughty white chocolate and sprinkling of candy canes. The rest of the cookie testers loved them both ways and I must say the extra candy canes and white chocolate really do add that extra touch to these cookies that make them spectacular.

Now they could be made anytime of the year. Just omit the candy canes and use any hard candy, or even sprinkle plain rice krispies on the chocolate instead of holiday ones. And you could dip them into milk or dark chocolate.

Very pleased with how these cookies turned out and I can’t wait to make them again!

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Kringles Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: holiday baking, christmas cookies, cookies, cookie exhange, snacks,
 
Ingredients
  • ½ lb butter
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ¾ cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cream of tartar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 cup rice krispy cereal, holiday red & green version
  • ½ cup glazed cherries, chopped
  • 2 tbsp toasted coconut
  • ¼ cup pecans, chopped
  • ¼ cup toffee bits
  • 3 candy canes crushed, regular size
  • 6 oz of white chocolate, melted
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a smaller bowl cream together your butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla mixing until combined.
  3. Pour flour mixture into butter mixture in two additions mixing well each time. Once combined add in your krispy cereal, cherries, coconut, pecans and toffee bits. Stir just until incorporated.
  4. Place dough in fridge for 30 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 350.
  6. Drop tbsp sized cookie dough onto parchment lined baking sheets leaving 1 inch between cookies. Bake for 6 minutes then turn and rotate cookie sheets in oven. Bake for another 6 minutes or until cookies lightly browned around the edges. I always rotate the trays in the oven so the cookies bake evenly on all sides.
  7. Remove from oven and let sit on sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to racks to cool completely.
  8. Once cooled dip one side in melted white chocolate and sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Let sit on parchment lined sheet until white chocolate has dried.
Notes
To crush candy canes: Remove candy canes from wrapper. Place in ziplock type plastic bag and close. Place on cutting board. Using mallet or rolling pin gently start smashing candy canes to crush them. Continue until you have broken up all the candy canes into small pieces.

 

Orange Gingerbread Cookies

3 · · 9 Comments

A couple years ago I started a Mom’s Wine Group and this lead to an annual Cookie Exchange. It’s turned out to be a great evening hanging with the ladies each holiday season, talking smack, kids, partners or husbands, enjoying wine, bites and at the end of the evening getting to go home with dozens of cookies and/or holiday baking. Love this time with friends and the gift of cookies that keeps on giving. Until they are all gone.

This year I am making cookies for both our Annual Group Cookie Exchange, and, since I am always up for a challenge, The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013. This Cookie Swap is Worldwide and you have to be a Food Blogger to participate. For a small submission fee (goes to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer), you get matched up with other Food Bloggers in your Country. Since my country “Canada” is rather large, I was paired with Food Bloggers who live in Eastern Canada. I am in the West.

For the cookie swap I needed a cookie that could stand up to traveling across Canada and arrive in one piece. Since moving to Calgary, I had been slightly challenged with getting a gingerbread cookie right, so I decided I was going to conquer gingerbread and declared let Battle Gingerbread begin.

Orange Gingerbread Cookies
Orange Gingerbread Cookies

A month or so ago I got to work playing with ingredients as I prefer soft gingerbread cookies and wanted to make sure I could come up with a recipe to get a soft cookie. In Calgary we are 3400 ft above sea level and as such ingredients need to be adjusted to compensate as this affects baking. The higher the altitude, the lower the atmospheric pressure. Lower pressure in turn causes water to evaporate more quickly. On or around my 3rd gingerbread cookie attempt I got the ingredients right with a little help from my Five Spice Ginger Cookies. Using a similar ingredient plan I was able to get the right consistency and taste adding in some orange zest for additional zip. Super Yum and I’ve even turned a few non gingerbread cookie fans into gingerbread cookie lovers with these gems.

If you choose to decorate and ice, I have included the royal icing recipe I use. The kids love to decorate these cookies and I love this cookie that has now become a family favourite and a new tradition.

By participating in the Food Blogger Cookie Swap I also received 3 fabulous cookies from Food Bloggers across Canada. Heather from The Tasty Gardener in Toronto sent over some “tasty” Egg Nog Cookies. Sarah at Feasts For All Seasons in Vancouver (my old stomping grounds & heart City) provided me with a Lovely cookie called Chocolate Gingerbread Crackles. Evelyne from Cheap Ethnic Eatz in Montreal sent along some Ohh La La Candied Orange Peel Shortbread. Fantastic cookies all around and I can’t wait until next year’s Cookie Swap 2014!

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Orange Gingerbread Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: snacks, holiday baking, christmas cookies, cookies,
Serves: 24
 
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup butter, softened
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • ⅔ cup molasses
  • 2 tsp orange zest
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3 cups all purpose white flour
  • ¾ tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • 2 tsp ginger
  • ½ tsp cloves
  • ¼ tsp salt
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl beat together butter, brown sugar, egg, molasses, orange zest and vanilla. Set aside.
  2. In another bowl sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to wet mixture, mixing well.
  3. Divide dough in half, shape into two discs, wrap in plastic and place in fridge until firm (2-3 hours or overnight).
  4. When ready to cut out cookies, roll out dough to about ¼ inch thickness on lightly floured surface. Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes and place on parchment lined cooking sheets about 1 inch apart. If the dough feels soft, place cookie sheet back in fridge for 15 minutes to firm up dough before baking.
  5. Bake in 350 F oven for 4 minutes then turn and rotate cookie sheets in oven. Bake for another 4 minutes or until cookies lightly browned on bottom and firm to touch. I always rotate the trays in the oven so the cookies bake evenly on all sides.
  6. Set on racks to cool completely before icing.
Notes
To make Royal Icing: Beat together 6 tbsp egg whites with 1 tsp vanilla until egg whites are frothy. Gradually mix in 4 cups sifted icing sugar until all incorporated. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks, about 5 minutes or so. If using food colouring add it and mix. Pour into pastry bags or a ziplock type plastic bag, clipping one of the corners.

 

Orange Gingerbread Cookies
Orange Gingerbread Cookies

Merry Cherry Ice Box Cookies

0 · · 5 Comments

Always wanting to create and try new cookie combinations I decided to investigate Ice Box Cookies as they are new territory for me. I googled ice box cookies and learned they are simply butter, sugar, eggs, flour, a few other ingredients and your add in of choice. Pretty much the basis to any cookie, except they are rolled and put into the fridge or freezer until ready to use. As usual my mind started spinning with all kinds of combinations I could make and so I went back to one of my basic cookie dough recipes and excitedly made 3 different variations of ice box cookies in two days hoping they would all turn out great.

The only time I used candied cherries is in Christmas baking, so I fondly named these Merry Cherry Ice Box Cookies. For my first batch of cookies, I opted to make them without baking soda or powder to see what they’d do. And I rolled them in toasted coconut since I love coconut. They turned out lovely and good enough to share. A simple but tasty little cookie that has received 4 thumbs up here.

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Merry Cherry Ice Box Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: holiday baker, christmas, baking, cookies, snacks,
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2½ cups all purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 cup candied red and green cherries, chopped small
  • 1 cup toasted coconut
  • Aluminum foil
Instructions
  1. Beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, continue to beat until combined. Add candied cherries and stir.
  2. Sift in your flour and salt. Mix until all combined. The dough should be a little sticky and come together easily. If you find it a little dry, you can add a couple drops of water.
  3. Split dough into two halves and roll each half into roughly a 2 inch log. Roll each log in the toasted coconut. Wrap in foil and put into freezer or fridge.
  4. When ready to bake cookies slice dough log into about ¼ inch slices. Bake in 375 F oven for about 7-8 minutes.

 

Winter Brussels Sprout Slaw with Pancetta

0 · · 2 Comments

Most of us have heard about the Thanksgiving Side Dish of sauteed brussels sprouts with pancetta and toasted pine nuts. It’s simply delicious and a dish I’ve enjoyed in various forms, more recently at a friends for Thanksgiving Dinner. I had actually intended to make the dish one evening to see if the kids would like it but somehow the idea started to slip away….and I got inspired to make a winter slaw instead. The cold version of this hot dish seemed logical since I had some pancetta, brussels sprouts and napa cabbage in the fridge, all seemingly with a shorter shelf life now that winter has arrived.

And so it began. Started chopping and creating piles. We always have pomegranates on hand (daughter loves), so I did the water trick and cleaned one in less than 60 seconds while toasting up some pine nuts in a pan. It was coming together. The only tough decision (well not really) was to use a crisp apple or almost ripe pear. After sampling both, the pear got my vote, although apple would work to. I tossed most of the ingredients together with a dressing, sampled the crispy pancetta a few times (yum), carefully added the pear and topped it with the pancetta, that I couldn’t stop eating.

As with most coleslaw’s, they taste better the next day once all the flavours have married and the crunchiness of the cabbage softened a little. A nicely grilled halloom cheese, goat or blue cheese would add a really nice flavour to this salad. You could also change up the nuts and toast some slivered almonds or walnuts. Serving it for dinner you should get four servings. Making it for one, you might get two meals out of it, if you are lucky.

Make this vegetarian by omitting the pancetta.

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Winter Brussels Sprout Slaw with Pancetta
Author: 
Recipe type: Side, Salad, Lunch, Main, Entree,
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 8 large brussels sprouts sliced thin or 2 cups
  • 2 cups napa cabbage, sliced thin
  • 2 thick (1/4 inch) slices of pancetta, sliced into long strips
  • 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
  • 1 semi ripe pear, sliced into long thin slices
  • ¼ cup pomegranate seeds
  • olive oil
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • ½ lemon, juiced
  • salt and pepper
  • ½ tsp cumin
Instructions
  1. In a bowl or measuring cup whisk together ¼ cup olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, cumin and a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.
  2. In a pan over medium high heat add your pancetta pieces and cook until nicely crisp and brown all over. Set on paper towel to drain.
  3. In your serving bowl combine sliced brussels sprouts, napa cabbage, pine nuts and pomegranate seeds.
  4. Pour dressing on top and toss.
  5. Since your pear will be on the ripe side gently drop on the pear slices and lightly toss with your hands. Layer crisp pancetta strips on top of salad and serve.

 

 

Krispy Pumpkins

0 · · 3 Comments

As it goes I’ve come up with what I thought was a fabulous idea for rice krispies this Halloween…and Wham it’s been done. As mentioned in previous posts I gave up googling my ideas until after the recipe is created, tested and posted. Then it becomes a comparison….how did they create their food compared to how I made mine. But I’m still taking the credit for coming up with this idea myself even if it has been done before. If it’s an idea I’ve gotten from somewhere, credit is always given where credit is deserved, as it should be. Food Bloggers Law.

We are having a Halloween Boogie Bash for the little kids and I wanted some fun food bites for them to munch on. Thought some food colouring in the rice krispie squares would turn them into great little pumpkins. Made a small batch so if you are wanting a lot double the recipe. In the end, success and the kids loved them.

Note: no two pumpkins are created equal so have fun with your shapes and don’t try to make them all perfect.

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Krispy Pumpkins
Author: 
Recipe type: Snack, treat, holiday,
Serves: 11
 
Ingredients
  • 22 large marshmallows
  • 3 cups rice krispie cereal
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • couple drops both red and yellow food colouring
  • green jelly beans
Instructions
  1. Melt butter in pan over medium low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until they are completely melted.
  2. Pour in your vanilla and food colouring, stirring until combined.
  3. Remove from heat and add rice krispie cereal. Stir until combined.
  4. Pour into a dish. If you try to form the pumpkins while still hot it won't work. You need to let the rice krispie mixture cool down a little.
  5. Once cooled (not completely) start forming balls and place on platter. Once all your balls are formed, go back to first pumpkin ball and shape into a pumpkin. As they cool they become easier to work with. Add your green jelly bean stem.
  6. Place in refrigerator to firm up for about 20 minutes and serve. Or transfer to a container to store until ready to serve.

 

Pomegranate and Orange Quinoa Salad

0 · · 3 Comments

This Pomegranate and Orange Quinoa Salad was made for our recent Ladies Halloween Wine Evening. Since it was a theme evening, I named it “blood clot salad with crunchy finger nails“. It was very well recieved and so much fun to make.

It all started with a variation of this salad I’ve been making all year. The dressing always stays the same, as does the main ingredient, oranges. Typically I tend to add some form of greens into it. Parsley, kale, scallions…anything I find in my fridge.

One day last week I was cleaning a pomegranate, with a hovering daughter, and I started thinking about putting pomegranates into the quinoa salad. They are everywhere in the stores and I swear we’ve already gone through half a dozen as my daughter loves them. They certainly are the perfect snack, full of antioxidants and I love how much she enjoys them. While cleaning away, I was having more thoughts about our Halloween evening and what bites I was going to bring. I had already decided on Pumpkin Vomit, made with guacamole, but I wanted a second dish to bring. Just because I’m crazy like that!! For some reason the term “blood clots” came to mind and then the light bulb moment….pomegranates in the salad could be blood clots. I think it could work.

I eat a lot of quinoa salad and always cook the quinoa the day before as I prefer it cooled down for my salad. It becomes very fluffy when you allow it to rest after cooking. The next day I scooped the seeds out of my mini pumpkin and carved it. It was going to by my vomiting pumpkin prop. Since we always roast our pumpkin seeds, I wanted to roast these ones to munch on. I tossed the seeds with oil, salt and cumin but had to turn the oven off and run out to the bus to get my kids mid roast. When I returned the residual heat from the oven had crunchified them a little. Still yummy however and then it came to me, they could be a salad addition of crunchy finger nails. Boom Chaka Laka. We were on a roll.

This is pretty much how this salad came to be. Started with the usual suspects, didn’t have any parsley so I used some of the bok choy greens in my fridge, roasted some pine nuts and tossed it all together.

This is enough for one serving. Double and triple if you are wanting to feed 4 or more and have leftovers for lunch.

 

Blood Clot Salad with Crunchy Finger Nails
Blood Clot Salad with Crunchy Finger Nails

 

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Pomegranate and Orange Quinoa Salad
Author: 
Recipe type: salad, main, dinner, lunch, appetizer,
Serves: 1
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup quinoa, cooked
  • ⅓ cup orange segments (one orange), cut up
  • 1 tsp mint, (heaping) chopped
  • 2 tsp pine nuts, roasted
  • 2 tbsp bok choy greens, chopped (or parsley)
  • 3 tbsp pomegranate seeds
  • 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds, roasted
  • 1 tbsp juice from orange
  • 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Place first seven ingredients in a bowl and toss lightly.
  2. In a jar or measuring cup add orange juice, vinegar, sesame oil, olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk together and pour over salad.
  3. Toss to mix in dressing and taste for seasoning. Add another pinch of salt and pepper as required.
  4. Serve with another sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and pumpkin seeds on top.
  5. This salad can be made a couple hours in advance and left to sit in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Notes
You will end up with more dressing than you need. Pour some on and toss. Taste and decide if you need to add more or not. Leftover dressing can be used to coat roasted potatoes, in a pasta salad or used in a green salad.

 

Pumpkin Pancakes

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Autumn always brings a harvest of delicious produce, and admittedly it’s my favourite time of the year. I love experimenting with pumpkin, and watching the kids try pumpkin recipes I’m testing and love it. One of my favourite go to Fall cookie recipes is my Pumpkin Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are delightful. The combination of chocolate, and pumpkin is sinfully delicious. I decided to take this combination, and make pancakes for the minions one day for lunch. They kept asking for more.

Using my Basic Pancake Recipe, I added in some pumpkin, and chocolate chips. I doubled this recipe, and made two sizes, regular pancakes and dollar size. Once cooled down you can separate them with parchment or wax paper, carefully place them into a freezer bag, and store them in the freezer. Breakfast and/or brunch is ready whenever you need them.

My boy was curious when he heard they were pumpkin pancakes. He then went on to eat 6 of them. Sigh growing I suspect. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

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Pumpkin Pancakes
Author: 
Recipe type: breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner,
 
Ingredients
  • 1 egg
  • 1½ cups milk
  • 2-3 tbsp butter, melted in microwave
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp white sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp wheat germ
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
  • 1 cup pureed pumpkin
  • cooking spray
Instructions
  1. Grab 2 large bowls.
  2. Heat your pan or flat top griddle. Spray with cooking oil.
  3. In first bowl whisk together your egg, add in your milk, melted butter and pumpkin puree. Mix well.
  4. In second bowl whisk your flour, baking powder, sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, salt, and chocolate chips together. Pour dry ingredients on wet mixture and stir until smooth and no lumps remain.
  5. Using ¼ cup measure scoop up some batter and pour onto hot griddle. Cook for about 1 minute or until underside is nicely browned and bubbles break on top. Flip pancake and cook for an additional minute until golden brown.
  6. Serve with maple syrup.

 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

0 · · 1 Comment

Seems we live in a world of Whoopie Pies these days. Everywhere I go there are Whoopie Pies! Never being one to jump on a band wagon, I can honestly say this is the first time I’ve ever had or made a Whoopie Pie. It started when friends invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner. Our friends were making a traditional turkey dinner and so I planned on making a traditional pumpkin pie. But I wanted something else, something more, just in case some people do not care for pumpkin pie. I googled pumpkin and have no idea how I ended up at pumpkin whoopie pies, but I did and the idea stuck. Always up for a challenge, this was definitely going to be uncharted territories. I do not particularly like to bring a recipe to a gathering that I have not tested yet. But there wasn’t much time and with the array of ingredients I had assembled, I felt quite confident making these cookies.

After browsing tons of whoopie pie recipes, all with similar measurements and ingredients, I finally made up a list of what I needed, combining a few ideas into my own concoction. In the end this recipe is not too far off some of the ones I saw and so I’m not sure who to give credit to, but I will go with the first recipe I looked at.

These cookies ended up being super easy to make and incredibly tasty both with and without the cream cheese icing. They would be the perfect bake sale item.

Now that I have made a basic whoopie pie, and they were a huge hit this past Thanksgiving, I am predicting more whoopie pies in our future. And just so you know, these cookies taste equally delicious with a dollop of leftover whipping cream on top!

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Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Author: 
Serves: 24
 
Ingredients
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp cloves
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • ½ cup canola oil
  • 2.5 cups pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, and oil together. Add the pumpkin puree, stirring well. Add vanilla and whisk until combined.
  4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture mixing as you go.
  5. Use a small cookie scoop or a large rounded tablespoon to drop the dough onto the baking sheets. It is important they are uniform in size and shape. Space 1 inch apart.
  6. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cookie comes out clean and it lightly springs back when touched. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.
  7. Once cooled, ice with cream cheese icing.
Notes
To make cream cheese icing beat together ¼ cup butter, 2½ cups icing sugar, 1 block 8oz cream cheese and 1 tsp vanilla. This recipe is enough to ice 14 cookies.

 

Five Spice Ginger Cookies

1 · · 3 Comments

Thrilled to be participating again in the 3rd Annual Calgary Food Bloggers Bake Sale. Proceeds from this Bake Sale go to The Calgary Foundation’s Flood Rebuilding Fund. A great charity to support considering the year Calgarians and Albertans have had following the nasty flood of 2013.

This is my first kick at the can with a ginger molasses cookie. Love to eat them. Bad habit of buying them at Starbucks all the while wondering about all the extra additives that might be in them. Until now. Starting with a basic cookie dough recipe and adding a whole whack of stuff, I believe I have given Starbucks a run for their money and no longer need to buy their cookies since these are delicious.

Early this week I decided to make these cookies but as always wanted to add my own spin. At first I thought chocolate dipped ginger cookies. But then, after snooping through my spices, I decided I would add in some Five Spice. I use Five Spice all the time and figured it would pair nicely with the spice in the cookie.

My gamble paid off as it’s an explosion of equally balanced flavours in every bite. I’ve gotten all kinds of positive feedback from the taste testers who have received a batch of these cookies and loved them. I choose to make these cookies for the bake sale, monster size. Definitely make them smaller if that’s what you prefer and you will get more out of the batch.

Another tip: make sure your butter is softened, not melting. It is the key to getting a good chewy molasses cookie. It was a hot day when I made these cookies and as such a hot evening in the house. I recall the inside temperature reading 27 degrees at one point. As you can imagine, my room temperature butter would melt and I would have to put it back in the fridge to firm up. Quite the game butter and I played the night I made these cookies.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Five Spice Ginger Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: Snack, treat,
Serves: 10
 
Ingredients
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp five spice powder
  • ½ tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp ground cloves
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • ¾ cup butter, softened but not melting
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 1 egg (room temp)
  • 1 tbsp water
  • ⅓ cup fancy molasses
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ⅓ cup candied ginger, chopped small
  • ½ cup white sugar (for rolling)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. In a bowl, sift ginger, baking soda, five spice powder, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, flour and salt. Mix to combine.
  3. In a second bowl beat your butter with sugars until creamy consistency. Add egg and vanilla, beating some more. Finally add in your water and molasses mixing until everything is combined and smooth.
  4. Stir your flour mixture into your wet ingredients. Add chopped crystallized ginger and mix until combined. Mixture may be sticky. At this point you can put in refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes for easier handling. Or if you're like me and didn't have time for chilling get right to work.
  5. Pour extra white sugar onto a platter or pie dish. Set aside.
  6. Shape dough into balls. I made the balls about 2-3 inches or big enough to fit into a ¼ cup. Roll in white sugar until completely coated.
  7. I put four at a time on my cookie sheets, so they need to be spaced at least 2 inches for expansion. Flatten slightly with back of pan or flat cup.
  8. Bake large cookies for 14 minutes rotating pans half way through. Cool slightly in pan before removing to rack to let cool completely. If making cookies smaller adjust your baking time to 8-10 minutes.

 

Bakers Brown Butter Blondies

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This is one of the easiest recipes to make and one our family has enjoyed for many years.

In a nutshell it’s a big cookie bar with whatever add-ins you want, baked in a dish.  It’s your basic cookie dough recipe and can easily be made into cookies.

Simply perfect for pot lucks, picnics, gatherings….you can spruce it up or keep it simple.  I like to whip up a quick batch to bring camping since it’s that easy.  I love how chewy it is on the inside and crunchy around the outer edges.

This batch makes just over one dozen squares depending on how big you cut them.  One batch is never enough for our family.  When you make them nut free they are perfect for school snacks.

Add-ins could be anything from nuts to cut up chocolate bar, toffee bits, smarties or m&ms, marshmallows or broken pretzels.  For this recipe my add-ins are peanut butter chips and chocolate chips.

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Bakers Brown Butter Blondies
Author: 
Serves: 14
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup peanut butter chips
  • ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking dish (either 8x8 or 9x9) with parchment paper allowing paper to extend out over edge. This will make it easy to pull cookie out of baking dish and no mess.
  2. IN a small pot melt butter over med-high heat. Allow butter to slowly foam up and turn brown. This takes a little time so be patient. Give it a stir every once in awhile. Once it's turned brown and smells nutty you can remove from heat.
  3. Add butter to bowl with brown sugar. Mix well. Whisk in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl or measuring cup add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix and pour into brown sugar mixture. Stir. Pour in your additions. For these I used peanut butter chips & chocolate chips. Stir again and pour batter into parchment lined dish. You will need to spread it out with a spatula ensuring evenness in all four corners.
  4. Bake about 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove entire cookie bar, cut and eat warm or let cool on wire rack, cut into squares and keep in container until ready to serve. Equally divine with a big scoop of ice cream on top.

 

Sugar Cookies

0 · · 3 Comments

A day late and a dollar short I am with this recipe.  It was to be Recipe 12 of my 12 Day of Holiday Baking but for some reason my 2 yr old hard drive decided to die on me 3 days before Christmas.  Since we were expecting the In-Laws to arrive any minute I really had no time to commit to getting it fixed.  Then colds & sick came along as well as other distractions.

Happy as pudding to report hard drive data recovered, new hard drive in place programs reinstalled and everything good in the land of nod.  I am happy to bring the final entry.

I never had sugar cookies growing up…it’s one thing my mother never made.  I feel like somehow I must have been missing out since they are so yummy and such a great cookie for kids to be involved in making.  My kids have so much fun with these cookies and I love creating these memories.

I’ve experimented with a few sugar cookie recipes over the years and haven’t had the best luck until I found this one.  It’s yummy, easy to make and fun for all.  Even hubs gets involved when it comes to our cookie making & decoration sessions.  It’s awesome!

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Sugar Cookies
Recipe type: Cookies, Snacks, Treats,
 
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup butter
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1.5 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • Pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In a large bowl cream together your butter & sugar. Mix in egg and vanilla until well combined.
  3. In a separate bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon and salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet. On a lightly floured surface roll out your dough to ⅛ inch thickness. Cut into shapes with your cookie cutters and place on parchment lined baking sheets re-rolling scraps until all the dough is used.
  4. Bake for 4 minutes then swap & turn your cookie sheets to allow for even baking. Bake for another 4 minutes. Cookies should be lightly browned on bottom.
  5. Remove from cookie sheets and cool on racks. Once cooled you can decorate with sprinkles, sugars or icing.

 

Pecan & Cranberry Biscotti

0 · · 14 Comments

I’m bringing Biscotti Back…..

My mom introduced me to Biscotti over 20 years ago. And I liked it. I admittedly have not made Biscotti for a couple years now… but figured this year was the time to bring it back into our Christmas Baking Rotation as part of my 12 Days of Holiday Baking.

I had all the ingredients to make the original recipe which called for almonds, but did not have any almonds on hand. So I went ahead and used toasted pecans instead also adding in cranberries and cinnamon.

It’s a lovely crunchy cookie to have either as is or dipped in coffee, tea or hot chocolate.

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Pecan & Cranberry Biscotti
Recipe type: Snacks, Cookies, Christmas Baking
Serves: 24
 
Ingredients
  • 1¾ cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ¾ cup toasted pecans
  • ½ cup dried cranberries
  • 2 eggs
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup butter, melted
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • ½ tsp orange extract
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • 1 egg white, lightly beaten
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add in pecans, cranberries and stir. IN a separate bowl whisk together eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, orange extract and orange zest. Stir into flour mixture and combine until soft. Dough will be sticky. You can add in a little more flour if you find it to be to sticky.
  3. On a lightly floured surface form dough into a smooth ball. Divide in half and roll each half into a foot long log. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet.
  4. Brush tops with egg white.
  5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet for about 5 minutes.
  6. Remove logs to cutting board and slice ¾ inch thick slices on the diagonal. Stand cookies upright on baking sheet and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until golden.
  7. Remove biscotti to rack and let cool. Store in sealed container.

 

Candy Cane Cookies

0 · · 5 Comments

Candy Cane Cookies
Candy Cane Cookies

One our favourite things to do during the holidays is bake cookies, squares, cakes and treats. One of my fondest memories of my mom is making these Whipped Shortbread Cookies as kids. Family time together and making memories are part of what makes us who we are.

Every year for quite some time now, a group of us moms get together and have an Annual Holiday Cookie Exchange Night. It has become a much anticipated event every year and grown to include wine, food and usually some sort of other element.

For our cookie exchange this year I wanted to make something new and adventurous and I think I found the right recipe – Candy Cane Cookies. This cookie does take a little work since you have to refrigerate the dough, take out small amounts at a time and work fast. But look at them! The extra work is worth it – aren’t they stunning?!

Candy Cane Cookies
Candy Cane Cookies

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Candy Cane Cookies
Author: 
Recipe type: Cookies, christmas cookies, snacks.
Serves: 30
 
Ingredients
  • ½ lb (1 cup) butter, softened
  • 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp peppermint extract
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2½ cups all purpose flour, sifted
  • Food colouring (red, green)
Instructions
  1. Cream butter & sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, peppermint, salt and flour.
  2. Divide dough into two. Stir food colouring into one half. If you are making green/white or red/white candy canes leave the other half uncoloured. If you are making red/green candy canes you will need to colour both halves of dough. Keep adding food colouring (and mixing well) until you reach desired colour. Wrap each section in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  4. Take a small portion of each colour of dough out of the refrigerator. Pick a colour and get started!
  5. Take a teaspoon of dough and roll into a 4 inch long snake. Do the same with the other half of dough. You will need to work fairly quickly as the dough warms up in your hands and becomes harder to work with.
  6. Carefully twist the snakes together and bend into a candy cane shape. Place on parchment lined baking sheets. Continue on with the rest of the dough placing candy canes approximately 1 inch apart on baking sheets.
  7. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until just a hint of brown starts on bottom of cookie.
  8. Set baking sheets on racks to cool (cookies will be to delicate to handle otherwise). Once able to remove cookies place on cooling racks until completely cooled. Store in sealed container.
Notes
I crushed some candy canes and mixed with sugar. Just as cookies came out of the oven I sprinkled some of the crushed candy cane/sugar mix on a few of the cookies to see how they turned out. Jury gave them 2 thumbs up!

This sugar like cookie with a peppermint twist is my cookie contribution for this year’s cookie exchange.

What is your favourite cookie to make or eat during the holidays?!

Boxed Candy Cane Cookies for cookie exchange
Boxed Candy Cane Cookies for cookie exchange

White Chocolate Cranberry Kiss Cookies

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Christmas is everywhere.  Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars are back.  My kids won’t stop singing Christmas Carols.  Neighbours have their Christmas lights up. We are 10 days away from Advent Calendars & Christmas decorations.  Bliss is in the air & Life is Good.

These White Chocolate Cranberry Kiss Cookies were created for a couple of reasons.  First I absolutely adore cranberry bliss bars and could spend way too much money treating myself this season…so I needed to create my own version. Second I wanted to challenge myself again to see if I could create another cookie made with canola oil. And finally I wanted to create a holiday cookie that becomes a family tradition.

For those that didn’t catch my Pumpkin Cookie post, I am trying to win a trip to a food blogging conference next spring hosted by the Food Bloggers of Canada.  I found making the pumpkin cookies with canola oil fairly simple and as such have been inspired to bake some more goodies using canola oil.

I even went as far as adding bacon to this recipe, just because I’m crazy like that!

In this process I came up against a mental block while trying to create a name for this cookie.  So I shouted out for help on Facebook and I’m grateful to those who shouted back (Laurie) with ideas & suggestions & eventually a name for the new cookie.

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White Chocolate Cranberry Kiss Cookies
Recipe type: desserts, snack, cookies, baking,
Serves: 48
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • ¾ cup canola oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¾ cup white chocolate wafers, chopped
  • ¾ cup dried cranberries
  • 4 oz cream cheese (half a block), softened
  • 2 cups icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 4 tsp fresh lemon juice
  • ½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a bowl in this order add sugar(s), canola oil, eggs and vanilla. Whisk really well until combined.
  3. Next add your flour, baking soda and salt. Stir until everything is combined.
  4. Finally dump in your chopped white chocolate and ¾ cup cranberries. Mix one more time.
  5. I take about 1 tbsp of cookie dough and roll it in my hands to roughly form a ball. I then put it on a parchment lined baking sheet and press down just a little with my fingers flattening it. It puffs a little when cooking so leave at least 1 inch between cookies.
  6. Bake for 4 minutes, then turn and rotate cookie sheets in oven. Bake for another 4-6 minutes (watching carefully) or until cookies are lightly browned on the bottom.
  7. Let rest in pan for a few minutes then transfer to wire racks and let cool completely before icing with your glaze (below).
  8. Once you've glazed all your cookies sprinkle with chopped cranberries.
Notes
Glaze: Combine cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in bowl. Blend until smooth. Bacon: I pulled some of the dough aside and mixed in 3 cooked/chopped pieces of bacon. It works nicely in the cookie although you only taste the bacon when you bite into a chunk of bacon in the cookie. It becomes a little bit of salty goodness and is a nice surprise. Since it didn't make or break the cookie I probably wouldn't use bacon again but it's nice to know it works!