Chocolate Crinkles

I thought these cookies were deserving of a post since they made even Josiah warm up to me today! Besides, it was bugging me that this blog has been neglected since January...

• 4 eggs

• 1 3/4 cups sugar

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

• 1/2 cup oil

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 2 tsp vanilla

• 2 cups flour

• Powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl beat eggs, sugar, chocolate, oil, baking powder, and vanilla until combined. Gradually beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Cover and chill dough 2 hours or overnight or until dough is easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375*. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in powdered sugar to coat generously. Place balls 1" apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are set and tops are dry (do not over bake). Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. (Cookies will deflate slightly upon cooling.) If desired, sift additional powdered sugar over the tops of cookies.

The things I did differently: Melt the chocolate in the microwave and dump in without cooling. Use whole wheat (soft white) flour - just add 1/3 to 1/2 cup more since it's not as dense (that's if it's home-milled, not sure about store bought whole wheat flour).

I'm glad to say that these cookies have been very popular today! I'm a bit surprised actually seeing as they don't use butter and I used whole wheat flour!

Bacon-Onion Biscuits

Mama and I recently went through a ginormous stack of magazines that we've had for years for any number of reasons, mainly recipes. We cut/tore out anything and everything that caught our attention. This recipe, from the December 2006 issue of Better Homes and Gardens, certainly caught mine. ;) Of course, I had to make a few minor-ish changes; I'll post my changes at the end of the original recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bacon, chopped

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 3 cups of all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon of baking powder

• 1 tablespoon of sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

• 3/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar

• 3/4 cup of butter

• 1 cup of milk

Directions:

In a skillet cook bacon and onion until bacon is slightly crisp and onion is tender. Drain off and discard fat.

In a bowl stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Combine milk and bacon mixture; add all at once to flour mixture. Using a fork, stir just until moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead dough by folding and gently pressing dough for four to six strokes or just until dough holds together. Pat or lightly roll dough to 3/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with a floured 2-1/2-inch biscuit cutter, rerolling dough scraps as necessary. Place unbaked biscuits on baking sheet; freeze 1 hour. Transfer to a plastic freezer bag. Seal, label, and freeze up to 1 month. Makes 12 biscuits.

TO SERVE: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place frozen biscuits 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 25 minutes or until golden.

Okay, first of all, I doubled. The other changes I made were mainly in the baking part, although I think I probably cooked the onions a bit more than is implied in the recipe (that bacon just wouldn't get crispy!). Oh, and I didn't drain the fat either (why drain bacon grease?!) I used a small biscuit cutter; didn't really think we needed 2 1/2" biscuits at fellowship. :) After that I baked the biscuits just like we usually do our normal biscuits: cast iron skillets with bacon grease in a 425* oven while cutting them out, biscuits flipped in the bacon grease, bake for 20-25 minutes or until done. Once they were done, I put them on cooling racks since I wanted to transfer them to a plastic container fairly soon.

I have a few changes I'd like to try next time as well: Buttermilk instead of sweet milk; I don't think a bit more tang would hurt the biscuits at all, and they might even rise a little better. More bacon. Go figure. I wouldn't mind trying to freeze them like they suggest either, but these are the kind of things we'll most likely want as soon as the dough's made. ;)

Oh, and the bacon butter I brought with these biscuits was just a pound of room temperature butter with as many slices of crispy bacon crumbled into the butter to make it look right. Nothing difficult, just gotta think to cook the bacon ahead of time; it can take a while to get the bacon good and crispy.

Enjoy!

Pepper Jelly

Well y'all, it's that time of year... when we all have fresh produce coming in by the bushels. Claire and I have spent most of the day dealing with squash and cayenne peppers. We're attempting green chile enchilada sauce; Claire or I will post the "recipe" if it turns out good. This recipe is one we'll probably be doing later this week or next week; we need some bell peppers first. :)

• 1 cup of sweet peppers, cut in chunky lengthwise strips

• 1/3 cup of fresh, quartered jalapenos (or other hot peppers) with seeds

• 1 1/2 cups of cider vinegar

• 5-6 cups of sugar

• 1 3oz. package of liquid fruit pectin

• 4-5 drops of green food color

Combine peppers and vinegar in the blender or food processor. Process in stop-and-go fashion to desired fineness.

Combine pepper mixture with the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Boil 5 minutes, then remove from the heat.

Skim foam from the top. [Not a necessary detail, but it looks better if you do this.]

Cool 2 minutes (include skimming time), then mix in the pectin and food coloring.

Pour into sterilized jars. Lightly cover the jars.

After it cools, pour melted wax on top of the jelly to seal. Put lids on the jars and store.

Sparkling Cranberries

I made this recipe over Christmas, and it turned out quite well! The cranberries were very pretty, but the berries we had were getting a little old when I finally got around to doing it, so they went bad on us pretty quickly. Anyway, they were a lovely addition to the holiday selection of goodies. They even tasted good, especially if you like slightly sweet sour things. I'm just going to copy and paste the recipe; the original is HERE.

For the simple syrup, raw cane sugar or real brown sugar lends a nice molasses flavor to the cranberries, but regular granulated sugar (or a blend of brown/white) will work.

• 2 cups cranberries, picked over

• 2 cups water

• 2 cups sugar (see head notes)

• More sugar for coating: I do a mix of medium-grained organic sugar for the first coating, and then a second toss with regular granulated white sugar. You don't want a huge grain for that first toss, just something larger than standard sugar, smaller than most turbinado sugars. You can sort of see the different grain sizes in the third photo in the main write-up.

Place the cranberries in a medium glass bowl and set aside.

Make a simple syrup by bringing the water and sugar just to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Let the syrup cool for a couple minutes and then pour it over the cranberries. If the syrup is too hot the cranberries will burst, so be careful. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, drain the cranberries and toss them with larger grained sugar until they are well coated. I only use a scoop of sugar at a time, and small batches of cranberries, so the sugar doesn't get too damp. Place the coated cranberries on a baking sheet to dry for a few hours.

Do a second toss with the regular granulated sugar, this typically takes care of any sticky spots on the cranberries. Let dry another hour.

Makes 2 cups of sparkling cranberries.

Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

I found this recipe HERE. We actually have the real Macaroni Grill recipe somewhere, but we can't find it right now. If we ever run across it again, I'll try to remember to post whatever differences there are. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs. yeast
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbs. rosemary
• 2 Tbs. butter
  

Directions:

Place yeast, sugar and water in large bowl or food processor and allow mixture to become bubbly.

Mix in 1 T butter, salt, and 2 cups of flour.

Add one tablespoon of the fresh chopped rosemary.

Knead for about 10 minutes by hand or in food processor about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Add more flour if necessary.

Oil a bowl, put dough in it and cover with a towel.

Let dough rise in a warm place for one hour until doubled.

Punch down dough and divide in half.

Let dough rest about 5 minutes.

Spray baking pan or cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Shape the dough into 2 small rounded oval loaves.

Sprinkle remaining 1 Tablespoon of rosemary over the loaves and press lightly into the surface.

Let loaves rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned.

Carefully remove from oven, brush with remaining butter (and salt if desired).

I've made this twice now. Once I used soft white wheat, and once hard white. The hard white definitely did better; it was not nearly so crumbly! I'd like to try it again with store-bought all-purpose or bread flour, but we've never had that on hand when I've made it. Also, I just used the ingredients as a guideline. I generally double the amount of yeast that a bread recipe calls for merely because Daddy taught me how to make bread, and he does that. I don't know if it's necessary or not, but I've never had a problem with it rising. :D And, of course, it used a bit more that 2 1/2 cups of flour, but not too much. Anyway, hope y'all enjoy this! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Fresh Mint Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 2 cups cream

• pinch of salt

• 2 cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves

• 5 large eggs

Put eggs and sugar in medium sauce pan. Beat well. Add milk, cream, salt, and mint. Heat until thickened (almost boiling). Remove from heat. Strain out the mint leaves while transferring to a heat proof container. Cool thoroughly. Freeze, and enjoy!

This is a modified version of a recipe I found online HERE. I would eventually like to try steeping the mint longer, but as it is, it's got an incredible minty flavor!

Blueberry Crunch

2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup melted butter
1 quart blueberries, fresh or frozen

Mix all but blueberries together. Press half into a 9x13 pan. Pour blueberries on top. Sprinkle with rest of crumble. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until bubbly.

Enjoy!

Cold Peach Soup

Surprise! A new post at last! This is from our Tennessee Magazine this month, and sounded too good (and easy!) not to try. It is delicious, and we think, though we haven't tried it yet, it would make delicious popsicles too!

Serve in teacups with shortbread cookies or alone as a light meal starter.

• 2 lbs of fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and halved

• 1/2 cup of orange juice

• 1/2 cup of plain yogurt

• 1 tablespoon of honey

• 2 teaspoons of fresh lime juice

Puree all ingredients in blender.

Adjust thickness with more orange juice or water if necessary. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour before serving or up to eight hours.

Yield: 6 servings

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Okay, now for the small changes I made.

First of all, I didn't serve it in teacups, with cookies, or as a meal starter. I served it as a main dish with salad and fresh rolls, and it was delicious! :)

I made two recipes of this; the first I made exactly (well, without exactly measuring everything...) like it says. The second, which we all thought was a bit better, I used a quart of our frozen peaches from last year, and I used homemade honey vanilla yogurt instead of plain.

Also, I, of course, didn't leave myself enough time to let it refrigerate for even one hour, so I put it into the freezer while the rolls were baking... 15 minutes or so. They came out pleasantly cool.

Almond Panna Cotta

This recipe is so good! It would be really quick too, if you bought almond butter instead of making your own.

• 1 cup of whole, blanched almonds, toasted
• 2/3 cup of sugar
• 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin
• 2 cups of whipping cream
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1//8 teaspoon of salt

Place the almonds in a food processor and process until finely ground into a smooth butter. We got this to work a little better in the blender.

In a medium saucepan stir together sugar and gelatin. Add whipping cream Heat and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat. Stir in the almond butter, the milk, and salt. Pour into six 6-ounce ramekins or custard dishes. Cover and chill for 6 to 24 hours, or until set.

Prepare Mocha Sauce (I'll post that recipe in a different post). To serve, loosen panna cotta from sides of dishes with a knife. Invert onto six dessert plates. Spoon or drizzle some Mocha Sauce around each panna cotta. Serve with additional Mocha Sauce and, if desired, garnish with sliced almonds.

Garlic Chicken with White Wine Sauce

I fixed this last night after finding it on THIS site, and it is delicious!

You can peel the garlic if you want too, of course.

Ingredients:

• 1 4lb whole chicken, cut into eight pieces
• Salt and pepper
• 2-3 whole heads of garlic, cloves separated (40-ish cloves) but not peeled
• Olive oil
• 1 ¼ cup of dry white wine
• 3 large sprigs of fresh tarragon
• 3 large sprigs of fresh thyme

Directions:

1. Lightly mash garlic cloves with the side of a heavy chef's knife, just enough to break the cloves. Leave the peel on.

2. Trim the chicken pieces of excess fat. Pat them dry and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in Dutch oven (or large thick-bottom pan with a tight-fitting cover) on medium high. Working in batches, brown the chicken pieces on all sides. Lay the chicken pieces in the hot oil, do not move until browned, then turn over to other side using tongs. Remove from pan when browned.

3. Add a little more olive oil to the pan if necessary. Add the garlic and saute until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add the wine and the herbs. Bring to a boil. Add the chicken pieces. Reduce the heat to medium low. Cover the pan and simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Move the chicken pieces from top to bottom every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes. Chicken is done when a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 180°F for thighs, and 170°F for breasts. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer chicken pieces to a platter; spoon garlic sauce over the chicken.

Serves 4-6

What to post...

Laura,
I need you to tell me what some of the recipes were that you wanted me to post. I have honestly forgotten. In the meantime I guess I'll try and think of something else to post...