Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies with Caramel and Sea Salt

It's hard to go far wrong with chocolate and caramel. These were in Sunset magazine's Christmas cookie collection this year...though I wouldn't limit these to Christmas. The cookies were a little dense - with no leavening in the recipe, that could be an easy fix by adding a teaspoon of baking powder. Either that or tweak it for a chewier cookie! :)

Sunset magazine - full recipe.

Since I planned to roll mine in sugar (no reason except that I like the look of it), I reduced the sugar in the dough to 1/2 cup.

Danish Salted-Butter Cookies

If you're going to decorate and cover them with icing and sprinkles, save yourself the trouble and just go for regular sugar cookies. But if the cookies are to be the main focus, these are worth the extra effort!

Thanks to Bon Appetit for the recipe.

I did find that mine -- even though I felt I was rolling them a little thin -- took longer than the 10-15 minutes to cook to really delicious, golden brown, light and crispy, buttery cookies...about 20.

Quinoa Bark

My World Lit students are currently in our African literature unit reading Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. At one point, the tribe rejoices as locusts 'invade' -- ready to be roasted for a tasty, crunchy treat. I often provide ethnic dishes for the students to try, and they jokingly asked in class about the possibility, including comments of "I'd maybe try them...if they were chocolate covered!" 

Well, culinary grade locusts are hard to come by here (not that I've ever given it any serious effort!!) but when I saw chocolate quinoa bark in this month's Cooking Light, I thought it would be fun to see if my students would eat a roasted, crunchy, chocolate covered snack...before I told them exactly what it was. :)

1/2 C uncooked quinoa
1/3 C turbinado sugar
7 oz dark chocolate
1/4 tsp sea salt

Photo and complete recipe from Cooking Light this month.

Sweet Potato & Sausage Strata

1) My culinary students will be making stratas in class this week -- choosing their meat & veggie add-ins.  2) I had leftover wheat rolls from Thanksgiving dinner; and extra sweet potato. 3) This month's Cooking Light magazine (December 2015) had a recipe for Sweet Potato & Sausage Strata.  All that combined to inspire my own strata this morning...largely based on the Cooking Light add-ins -- I added some caramelized onions as well.

I don't do the Black Friday shopping frenzy. My tradition on Black Friday is to decorate for Christmas. So...my tree and twinkle light garlands are up around the house, potted paper whites (planted over a week ago) are beginning to push up green shoots promising fragrant white blossoms soon, pine and cinnamon scented candles are burning, and cozy Christmas pillows and throws are invitingly tucked on the couch and my Christmas books are calling. Christmas music (and the sound of the furnace blowing) are all calling me to enjoy this tasty breakfast on this Sunday morning.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

Light and moist. The recipe is plenty for three full layers; 9" rounds or 8" squares... Do you have three pans? Or 48 cupcakes! (lower photo...decorated for Halloween treats for my classes) I use dark cocoa powder (because I like it!), but that's not necessary of course. Both this cake and the frosting use sour cream; but the cake is also delicious with vanilla, cream cheese, or peanut butter frosting...a layer of raspberry jam between the layers...
Vanilla frosting with a splash of orange (color and flavor) may be what I use this week, since it's Halloween soon.

Ingredients (cake)
1 C (dark) cocoa powder
1 C HOT water
1 C butter, softened
2½ C sugar
4 eggs
2 t vanilla
3 C cake flour*
2 t baking soda
½ t baking powder
½ t salt
1 C sour cream

* substitution: 7/8 C all purpose flour + 2 T corn starch = 1 C cake flour

Directions (cake)
Pre-heat oven to 350˚.

Generously grease and flour 3 9-inch baking pans (or 8-inch squares). Note: I use parchment paper; this cake is light and tender...and can break and crumble easily coming out of pans.

Dissolve cocoa in hot water; set aside to cool.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Stir in sour cream.

Slowly add dry ingredients to creamed mixture; beating on low speed. Stir in cocoa mixture until well combined.

Divide evenly between three pans; bake 30-35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans; cool completely on wire racks.


Ingredients (frosting)
12 oz chocolate chips
½ C butter, cubed
1 C sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
4½ - 5 C powdered sugar

Directions (frosting)
Melt chocolate chips and butter in microwave; stir until smooth. Cool 5 minutes. Transfer to large bowl; stir in sour cream and vanilla. Add powdered sugar 1 C at a time until light and fluffy. Spread between layers and over top and sides of cake. Store in refrigerator.

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Perfect for fall!

INGREDIENTS:

2 C all purpose flour

½ C sugar

½ C brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1 egg

¼ C milk

½ C vegetable oil

1 C pumpkin purée

½ C dried cranberries, reconstituted

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 375°.

Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups (use shortening or coat with non-stick cooking spray).

Gently mix or sift dry ingredients in a medium bowl until well combined. In a separate bowl, beat egg. Add milk, oil and pumpkin to egg, and stir to mix.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour pumpkin mixture into well; mix just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Gently fold in cranberries.

Fill muffin cups about ¾ full. Bake 25 minutes.  Immediately remove from pan, cool on wire racks.

Spaghetti Squash

LOTS of things you can do with spaghetti squash...using it like "spaghetti" is just ONE! And spaghetti OR spaghetti can be topped with LOTS of things besides just marinara sauce. So this really isn't the most inspirational post. But since my cousin Mikayla commented on spaghetti squash when I was visiting this last weekend -- and we didn't really get the chance to follow-up at the time, I thought this might be worth posting.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/photos/how-to-roast-spaghetti-squash.html

Tip: When I put my squash on a baking sheet, I line the sheet with foil and give it a light coat of non-stick cooking spray. Easy clean-up! :)

Ginger Crème Brulée

My custards took longer to cook than 1 hour. It will depend on how wide or deep your ramekin style is. Cook them until the centers barely move.

Ingredients
¹/₃ C sugar
4 egg yolks
2 C milk
2 T chopped crystallized ginger
½ tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
6 T sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 325˚.

Place 6 4-ounce ramekins in a 9x13 baking dish.

Combine ¹/₃ C sugar and egg yolks, stirring well with whisk.

In a saucepan, combine milk and ginger. Heat over medium heat to 180˚ (just beginning to simmer; do not boil), stirring occasionally. Strain mixture through a sieve, discarding solids. Add vanilla and salt. Gradually add milk mixture to egg mixture, whisking constantly.

Divide mixture between 6 ramekins. Add hot water to baking dish to a depth of 1 inch, taking care not to drip or spill into custard filled ramekins.

Bake 1 hour or until center barely moves when ramekin is jiggled. Remove ramekins from pan, cool completely on wire rack. Cover; chill at least 4 hours.

Sift one tablespoon sugar to evenly cover cover each custard top. Using a kitchen torch about 2 inches from custard surface, "brulée" by moving torch back and forth until sugar is melted and caramelized (approx. 1 minute). Serve immediately, or within 1 hour.

If you don't have a kitchen torch...
Put 6 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon water in saucepan; cook, without stirring, over medium heat until sugar is golden (5-8 minutes). Immediately pour over cold custards, gently spreading if necessary to form a thin layer.

Pumpkin Roulade with Ginger Buttercream

Though it's been on the website at least since last fall, I saw this one in the latest Food Network Magazine. It just seemed...like a bite of fall. If I made it again, I think I'd reduce the filling a little...or reduce it and fold in a little whipped cream. It was delicious, but very rich, and generous on the filling.

Ingredients
For the cake...
¾ C flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp salt
3 eggs, @ room temp.
1 C sugar
¾ C canned pumpkin
¼ C powdered sugar
          plus extra for dusting

For the filling...
12 oz mascarpone cheese
1¼ C powdered sugar
2 T heavy cream
¼ C minced crystallized ginger (dry, not in syrup)


Directions
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pumpkin-roulade-with-ginger-buttercream.html

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Betty Crocker's maple bacon frosting -- a seasonal item, on sale today -- inspired my fall baking today. Sorry to say (though not exactly surprising), the store-bought canned frosting with its tiny, totally fake, stale-chewy imitation bacon sprinkles was VERY unimpressive. Makes me want to rebake these pumpkin cupcakes and make my own frosting and real crushed bacon bits.*

Ingredients
1 C butter, softened
1½ C brown sugar
3 eggs
2 C pumpkin purée
1 tsp vanilla
2¼ C flour 
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ginger
2 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 375˚. Line 24 muffin tins with paper liners.

Stir or sift together flour, soda, salt and spices; set aside.
Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and beat until well combined. Stir in pumpkin purée and vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients. Scoop batter into cupcake liners. Bake 18-20 minutes.

Round or square cake pans (line with parchment paper and/or lightly coat with non-stick cooking spray) would probably require 25-30 minutes. Test them with a toothpick.



* Nov 29, 2015 addition: So...I did bake the pumpkin spice cupcakes again, mini-cupcakes this time. No bacon; brown sugar buttercream frosting with a sprinkle of coarse vanilla sugar and a dusting of cinnamon.  ...much better!

Mango-Tomato Salsa

This is an easy recipe to play around with to suit your individual taste. Add more of what you like, less of what you don't. However, all the ingredients -- sweet, salty, sour/acidic, etc. -- work together and against each other to highlight all the different flavors.

Ingredients
1 15 oz can petite diced tomatoes*
15 oz fresh peeled, diced mango
2 T minced onion
1+ tsp minced jalapeno or serrano chili pepper
1 T lime juice
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp rice vinegar
1 T chopped cilantro
1 T chopped fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste

* Yes, of course you can use fresh tomatoes and dice them yourself! :)

Directions
Combine mango, tomato, onion and chili in a bowl. Stir in lime juice, sugar, rice vinegar, cilantro and mint. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with tortilla chips.

Tiger Bites

I had half a bag of pretzels and some marshmallows that were going to go stale if I didn't use them soon. So...Tiger Bites! -- a blending of a couple bar cookie recipes I found. If I wasn't trying to use up the marshmallows I had, I might use mini-marshmallows instead. Although the browned tops of the larger ones give the even, golden "tiger" color under the chocolate drizzled stripes.

Cookie Bar Ingredients
1½ C broken pretzel pieces
1¼ C flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (optional; pretzels are pretty salty already)
½ C butter
1½ C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
non-stick cooking spray

Topping Ingredients
8 large marshmallows, halved
¼ C chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
2 T (about) cream - or milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚. Line a 9" square baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang (to lift baked cookie bars out of the pan); coat lightly with non-stick cooking spray.

Pulse 1 C of pretzel pieces in food processor until finely ground (or smash in a plastic bag using a rolling pin). Combine with flour, baking powder and salt (if desired).

Melt butter with brown sugar over medium heat. Do not boil. Cool slightly; stir in eggs and vanilla. Combine with pretzel flour mixture until well blended. Pour and spread batter in baking pan. Lightly press remaining pretzel pieces over surface of batter.

Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely, then lift out of baking pan, onto a sheet pan (spread foil edges out).

Preheat broiler. Gently press marshmallow halves (cut-side down) in rows (4x4) on top of cookie bars. Place under broiler -- moving and rotating as needed to brown all marshmallows evenly.

Place chocolate chips and 1-2 T cream in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in SHORT intervals, stirring frequently, to melt chocolate. Drizzle in 'stripes' over tops of cookie bars. Chill or let harden at room temperature to set chocolate before serving. Cut into 16 bars.