Christmas Sugar Cookie Tree

by penji1

Christmas Sugar Cookie Tree

Yesterday’s creation for my good friend Jason as a thank you for taking our family picture for our Christmas card this year.  I used the Wilton Cookie Tree Kit:

Wilton Cookie Tree Kit

The kit isn’t too expensive, like $10, although last year around this time I got it on sale for $5.  It wasn’t all that hard to make but it was time consuming.  I’ll give you the Wilton recipe for Large Roll-Out Cookies which came with the kit and is delicious and I’ll also give you the Quick-Pour Icing Recipe which also came with the kit and makes the cookie tree and regular sugar cookies look so professional.

Large Roll-Out Cookie Recipe

5 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened

3 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

1  Preheat oven to 350.

2  Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl and set aside.

3  Beat butter and eggs until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and extracts.  Add flour mixture to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition.  Do not chill dough.  Divide dough into 4 balls.

4  On floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12″ in diameter and 1/8″ thick.  Dip cookies in flour.  Bake similar sized cookies on ungreased cookie sheet 8 – 11 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

The instructions said you would need this whole recipe to make the tree but the tree only took about half of the dough and so I made about 5 dozen sugar cookies with the rest of the dough (which found there way to some neighbor’s houses last night):

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Quick-Pour Icing Recipe

5 cups sifted powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk (I was out of milk so used heavy whipping cream instead)

1/4 cup light corn syrup

Combine sugar and milk, stirring until mixed thoroughly.  Add corn syrup and mix well.

You can frost 2 ways – first, you can put a spoonful of icing on the cookies and spread with a knife or second (my preference), you can dip the cookies in the icing which worked better for me as it gave the cookies that professional looking smooth top.

Copycat Panda Express Chow Mein

by penji1

Copycat Panda Express Chow Mein

Everyone here loves Panda Express Chow Mein so when I found this recipe on Pinterest from “Eat Cake for Dinner”, I knew I had to give it a try and it was terrific!  Bob and Jaren even said they liked it better than Panda Express!

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 – 2 cloves garlic, grated or pressed

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated (I used about 1/4 teaspoon ground)

ground black pepper, to taste (I used about 1/4 teaspoon and that was a little too much)

2 tablespoons oil

around 15 oz (2 packs) Yakisoba Stir Fry Noodles (you can find these in the refrigerated section of the produce department)

2/3 cup celery, chopped diagonally (I used 1 heaping cup)

1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced (I used the whole onion)

2 cups (heaping) cabbage, chopped (I used 1/2 of a head of cabbage which was about 4 cups of cabbage)

1  In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and black pepper.

2  Remove noodles from packages, discard included flavoring packets, run noodles under hot water to help break them apart, drain and dry.

3  Heat oil in large wok or skillet.  Add celery and onion and saute for several minutes until onions are soft and transparent.

4  Add cabbage and saute another few minutes until soft.

5  Add noodles and soy sauce mixture and heat for an additional 2 – 3 minutes or until noodles are heated through.

Here are the Yakisoba noodles you’ll need:

Yakisoba Stir Fry Noodles

Farmer’s Casserole

by penji1

Farmer's Casserole

I’m helping with a neighborhood breakfast with Santa this Saturday and when we were trying to decide what to serve for breakfast, I remembered this casserole that I used to make all the time and so we decided to serve it at the breakfast so I figured I’d better make it again for a test run.  I made this Sunday night when Courtney and Jaren were over and it was gone in a flash, seriously I turned around and the pan was empty, so I think it’s safe to serve at the breakfast!  I couldn’t remember where I got this recipe from but Googled it and it came up as a “Taste of Home” recipe, very similar anyway.  So if you live in my neighborhood, come on out to the Santa breakfast and give this casserole a try and let me know what you think!

3 cups frozen shredded hash browns

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup diced ham

4 beaten eggs

1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Spray 9 x 13″ pan with cooking spray.  Layer hash browns, cheese and ham in dish.  Combine beaten eggs, milk, salt and pepper and mix well.  Carefully pour over layers in dish.  Bake at 350 for 40 – 45 minutes or 55 – 60 minutes if prepared the night before.  Let sit 5 minutes before slicing.

Maple Cream Pie

by penji1

Maple Cream Pie

I’m not much of a pie maker or a pie eater, if I’m going to consume those calories then I’d rather just have chocolate cake or brownies, you get the idea but this year for Thanksgiving I decided to give a real cream pie a try and this was the result and I have to admit that it was delicious!  The recipe comes from “Taste of Home” and wasn’t too hard to make.

pastry for single crust pie, 9″ (one of the reviewers of the recipe said she used a graham cracker crust instead so I did too)

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups milk, divided

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup, divided

1 1/2 – 2 teaspoons maple extract, divided (this was also suggested by the same reviewer)

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup heavy whipping cream

4 – 6 tablespoons powdered sugar (I added this for a little more sweetness)

sliced almonds, toasted

1  Line a 9″ pie plate with pastry, trim to 1/2″ beyond edge of plate.  Flute edges.  Line unpricked pastry shell with double thickness of heavy duty aluminum foil.  Bake at 450 for 8 minutes.  Remove foil and bake 5 minutes longer.  Cool on wire rack.  (Or just go with a store bought graham cracker crumb crust like I did.)

2  For filling, combine cornstarch and salt in a large saucepan.  Whisk in 1/2 cup milk until smooth.  Gradually whisk in remaining milk, 3/4 cup maple syrup and 1 teaspoon maple extract.  Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.  Reduce heat and cook and stir 2 minutes longer.  Remove from heat.  Stir in small amount of hot filling into egg yolks then return all to pan, stirring constantly.  Bring to a gentle boil, cook and stir 2 minutes longer.  Remove from heat.  Gently stir in butter.  Cool to room temperature without stirring.

3  In a chilled small bowl, beat cream, powdered sugar and 1/2 – 1 teaspoon maple extract on high speed until stiff peaks form.  Fold 1 cup cream into cooled filling (my filling was really lumpy after I did this but after the pie sat in the fridge the lumps all disappeared) then spoon filling into crust.  Fold remaining syrup into cream and frost top of pie.  Refrigerate overnight.  Garnish with toasted almonds if desired.  Store in fridge.

Homemade Dinner Rolls

by penji1

Homemade Dinner Rolls

I’m not the world’s greatest bread maker so anytime I make anything with yeast dough and it turns out, I’m surprised and delighted.  Here are the rolls from our Thanksgiving dinner, they were yummy!  The recipe comes from The Food Network and were actually pretty easy to make.

1 (1/4 oz) package dry active yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons if you have a jar of yeast like I do)

1 cup warm water, about 110 degrees F

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup milk, scalded and cooled to warm

4 ounces melted butter, plus 2 ounces (4 oz is 1 stick)

5 cups flour, plus more as needed

1  In a standing mixing bowl with dough hook, dissolve yeast in warm water.  Let sit until lightly foamy, then stir in sugar and add egg, salt, warm milk and 4 oz of butter.  Slowly add 5 cups flour, adding more as needed to make an elastic dough.  Mix well, then roll out to floured surface and knead dough for 5 minutes.

2  Place dough in buttered bowl, cover with towel, and set in a warm place to rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour.

3  Lightly oil muffin pans.  Punch dough down and form dough into 1″ balls.  Place 3 balls in each muffin tin.  Fill muffin pan, cover with towel, and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

4  Preheat oven to 425.

5  Brush rolls with remaining butter.  Bake in preheated oven for 10 – 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Yield: 2 dozen

Mandarin Orange Pretzel Salad

by penji1

Mandarin Orange Pretzel Salad

Another new addition to our Thanksgiving menu.  I tried this before one year but didn’t wait patiently for the jello to set a bit before I poured in on there and it just seeped to the bottom and made a soggy mess so this time I waited for the jello to cool and set a bit before pouring it on and I also made sure that the cream cheese layer was sealed all the way around the edges without any gaps for the jello to sneak through.  This is a “Six Sisters’ Stuff” recipe and I’ve made it before with strawberries, recipe here, and will make it again with raspberries probably for Christmas at Courtney’s request.  Everybody really likes it, so far in any flavor.

1st layer:

2 cups pretzels, crushed

1/2 cup butter, melted (the crust was super crumbly as you can see in the picture so next time I make this I will probably increase the butter by 1/4 – 1/2 cup more)

3 tablespoons sugar

2nd layer:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip, thawed

1 cup sugar

3rd layer:

1 (6 oz) box orange Jello

2 cups boiling water

1 (11 oz) can mandarin oranges, drained

1  For 1st layer, combine pretzels, butter and sugar.  Stir together until well blended.  Press in 9 x 13″ pan and bake at 350 for 7 minutes.  Cool completely.

2  For 2nd layer, beat sugar and cream cheese together until smooth.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Spread cream cheese mixture over pretzel layer, being sure to seal the cream cheese layer against the sides of the pan so the next/Jello layer will not be able to leak through when added.

3  For 3rd layer, mix Jello and boiling water together until Jello is completely dissolved.  Add oranges and let cool until slightly set.  Pour Jello carefully over cream cheese layer and refrigerate until set.

Chocolate Revel S’Mores Tart

by penji1

Chocolate Revel S'Mores Tart

Let the posting of Thanksgiving dinner recipes begin!  First up, this delicious and lovely tart which made a complete mess of my oven so it’s a good thing that it was indeed delicious!  It totally overflowed for me so I would suggest putting a cookie sheet underneath it in case it overflows on you too.  Not sure why it did as I followed the instructions pretty closely.  The recipe comes from “Better Homes and Gardens” and despite the overflowing, I would encourage you to give it a try.  It has a great crunchy outside and a gooey chewy inside.

1/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 1/4 cus milk chocolate pieces (I went with semisweet for that darker chocolate flavor)

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup ground almonds (I went with sliced instead)

1/3 cup flour

1 egg yolk

1 cup mini marshmallows

1  Preheat oven to 325.  For crust, beat 1/3 cup butter on medium to high for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar and baking soda and beat until combined.  Beat in 1 egg and vanilla until combined.  Beat in 1/2 cup flour.  By hand, stir in oats and graham cracker crumbs.  Reserve 1/2 cup of crust mixture.  Spread crust mixture in bottom of ungreased 10″ tart pan with removable bottom.

2  For filling, heat and stir 1 cup chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of butter over low heat until just melted and smooth.  (Next time I make this, I will melt the butter first then add the chips in to melt, it will work better that way.)  Beat remaining butter and sugar on medium until combined.  Add melted chocolate, almonds, 1/3 cup flour, 1 egg and 1 egg yolk and beat until combined.  Stir in 1/2 cup marshmallows.  Spread filling evenly over crust in pan.

3  Sprinkle remaining crust mixture over filling.  Bake 45 minutes or until filling is just set.  Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup marshmallows and 1/4 cup chocolate chips over top.  Bake 5 minutes more.  Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes.

4  Using small knife, loosen tart from sides of pan.  Remove sides of pan.  Cool completely on wire rack.

Easy Turkey Cupcakes

by penji1

Easy Turkey Cupcakes

Here is a Thanksgiving dessert idea that is all over Pinterest so I’m not really sure where it originated to give credit.  It seriously could not be any easier!  All you need are some baked and frosted cupcakes, your choice of flavors, these are dark chocolate cupcakes (from a box mix) and chocolate frosting (from a can, easy right?), and some candy corn and some candy eyeballs which you can get at the craft store like Michaels where I got these.  The cute liners come from “Pick Your Plum”, my favorite website in the whole world, you should check it out!   Pretty sure you can figure it out on your own from there.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Baked Chocolate Donuts

by penji1

Baked Chocolate Donuts

And here is my other contribution to Kenzie’s bridal shower yesterday, chocolate donuts, some of them even heart shaped!  The recipe comes from a blog called “Milk & Honey”.  Bob said he really liked these because sometimes baked donuts don’t taste like “real” donuts but for him, these tasted like real donuts.

donuts:

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 tablespoons oil

chocolate glaze:

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1  For donuts:  Preheat oven to 450 and spray donut pan liberally with cooking spray.

2  Stir together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.  Add egg, vanilla and milk and stir together for 1 minute.  Add oil and continue to stir until just combined.  Transfer batter to large measuring cup or bowl with spout for easy pouring.  (I put the batter in a large Ziploc bag and snip a corner off and then pipe it into the pan.)

3  Fill each cavity 2/3 full of batter.  Bake 7 – 9 minutes or until donuts spring back when lightly touched.  Cool before icing.

4  For glaze:  Combine chocolate chips, butter, corn syrup and vanilla in double boiler.  (I put in microwave for 30 second intervals.)  Stir until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Dip donuts in glaze.  Top with jimmies or sprinkles if desired.

Creme Brulee Muffins

by penji1

Creme Brulee Muffins

Here are the muffins all ready to go at the wedding shower for my friend Kenzie!  These were pretty dang yummy, maybe there will be some leftover from the shower but I doubt it.  The recipe comes from a blog called “Chef in Training”.

muffins:

5 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup Creme Brulee Coffee Creamer  (next time I make these, I think I will double the creamer because the batter is really thick so I think it could handle more liquid and I’d like more of the Creme Brulee taste)

1 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

sugar crumb filling/topping:

1/4 cup cold butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup flour

1  Make sugar crumb filling:  Combine sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour in bowl.  Cut in cold butter (with pastry blender or two knives) until a crumb mixture is formed.

2  Preheat oven to 375.

3  Cream butter and sugar together in large bowl.

4  Beat in egg.

5  Add sour cream and coffee creamer and blend until well combined.

6  In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

7  Pour half of dry ingredients into batter and stir with wooden spoon until just combined.

8  Add in remaining flour mixture until just combined.  Do not over stir.  (Batter will be thick!)

9  Grease large muffin tin (6 muffins) with cooking spray.

10  Drop enough batter into bottom of each muffin tin to coat.  Sprinkle some crumb mixture over batter.  Spoon another layer of batter over top of crumbs.  Spoon more crumbs over that.  Then spoon a third layer of batter over the crumbs followed by a final layer of crumbs.  Muffin tins should be 2/3 – 3/4 full.  (I used regular size muffin liners and so just did 2 layers of each – batter, crumbs, batter, crumbs.  I doubled the recipe and ended up with about 23 muffins.)

11 Bake at 375 for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.