Month: December 2012

Santa’s Snickerdoodles

CarrieLeave a comment

When I was a child, I always left Snickerdoodles out for Santa.  They are festive and easy to make.  My dad used to let me roll the balls of dough into different colored sugars to make them special.  Then my dad would take my creation and bake them in the oven to make the perfect cookie for Santa.  It is one of my best Christmas memories.  The recipe is an adaptation from Betty Crocker.

Ingredients
1  c butter, 1 1/2 c sugar, 2 eggs, 2 3/4 c flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 1/4 tsp salt

Directions
Heat oven to 400.  Mix sugar, butter, and eggs in a large bowl.  Stir in flour, creamof tartar, baking soda and salt.  Shape dough into 1 inch balls and then roll the balls in colored sugar.
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Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove cookies from sheet pan to wire rack for cooling.  Enjoy!

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Starbucks Copycat

Sadie1 Comment

Biscotti are a must have during the holiday season.  I love them with my holiday flavored tea or lattes.  Plus they typically aren’t overwhelmingly sweet, which is a nice break from the typical Christmas cookie.

If I’m at Starbucks and I need a treat, I often turn to the biscotti to enjoy with my mocha latte (grande with skim milk please).  I love their vanilla almond flavor so when I saw a copycat recipe for it on a blog, I pinned it right away.

I got the chance to try the recipe when I was home visiting my parents.  I know my mom enjoys a good biscotti.  Plus I packaged some in a mason jar as a last minute bridal shower gift for my friend because her gift didn’t arrive in time!wrapped up

I was very satisfied with the results. I always enjoy a traditional almond biscotti, but this version has a great neutral vanilla taste rather than the overt almond extract flavor; and you still get the almonds throughout.  These would be great to have on hand this season for a party or when a friend stops by for some tea!

Copycat Vanilla Almond Biscotti

Yeilds about 10-15 depending how you slice them, from Cannella Vita

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I used half a.p and half whole wheat)
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup roughly chopped almonds
  • 3 Tbs butter, cut into small cubes
  • 1 egg plus 1 egg white
  • 3 Tbs buttermilk
  • 1 Tbs vanilla extract

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 350.
  2. Combine the sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and about 3/4’s of the chopped almonds.
  3. Cut the butter in with a pastry cutter, like you would with a biscuit or pie dough recipe.
  4. In a separate bowl combine the buttermilk, egg, egg white, and
  5. Combine the wet and the dry and mix to combine.  You might need to kneed it a little to get it to come together.  It will seem too dry at first, but the liquid should be enough.log
  6. Form a log about a foot long on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  The log will expand so you can make it pretty narrow at about 3 inches wide.  Sprinkle the left over almonds on top and pat them into the log slightly.
  7. Bake log for 30-35 minutes until light golden brown.sliced up
  8. Remove from oven and after it was cooled for a few minutes, slice on an angle, place slices on their side and put them back in the oven for 10 minutes at 325.  Then turn them over and bake 10 more minutes until lightly toasted.toasted
  9. You can let them dry out over night if you would like.  The nice thing about biscotti is that they will stay at room temp for quite a few days.

Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms

CarrieLeave a comment

This is one of my favorite holiday appetizers to make for a crowd.  This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite food network star’s, Ina Garten.  It is simple to make and will please everyone’s tastebuds.  The hint of sherry and fresh flavors really make them special.  You should make them for your Christmas Day appetizer this year…it’s just that easy.

Ingredients

16 extra large white mushrooms, olive oil, 2 1/2 tbsp sherry, 1 lb. Bob Evans or Jimmy Dean sage sausage, 6 scallions minced, 2 garlic cloves minced, 2/3 c. panko, 5 oz. cream cheese, 1/3 cup parmesan, 1/2 bunch fresh parsley minced, salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop finely.  Set this aside.  Place the caps in a shallow baking dish and toss with 3 tbsp of olive oil and sherry.  Set this aside.

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Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add the sausage.  Make sure to crumble the sausage in the pan as you are cooking it.  Once the sausage is browned, add the chopped mushroom stems and cook until tender.  Stir in the scallions and garlic and cook for another five minutes.  Add the panko crumbs and stir well to combine everything.  Lastly, fold in the cream cheese on low heat and continue until the cream cheese is melted and thoroughly incorporated.  Turn the heat off.  Stir in the parm and parsley.  Then add salt and pepper to taste.

Once the mixture is cool enough to handle, fill each mushroom with the sausage mixture.  There will be plenty of stuffing so make sure to put a heaping pile of it in the mushroom.  Arrange the mushrooms in a single layer in the same baking dish in which you have pre-treated the mushroom caps.  Make sure they are snug in the pan so they do not move around when you place them in the oven.
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Bake until the stuffing is browned. You can only imagine how great they will look once they are cooked. I got so engrossed in the dinner party in which I served them at and forgot to take a final picture. You can check out Ina’s recipe here if you want to take a look at the final product.