Minty Perfection: Peppermint Bark

Noel and I looked at each other in dismay today when we realized that we were down to our last two pieces of peppermint bark. See, I had decided that the 591 cookies were not enough, because I wanted to keep at least a few for ourselves (um, and by a few I mean about 75) and I had so many people I wanted to give food gifts to this year, that 500 or so for giving away just wasn't going to cut it. So after a few days of recuperation from the cookie insanity, I decided to tackle some more recipes; most notably this recipe for peppermint bark.

I feel that calling the bark a success is probably justified, because it tastes AMAZING. It's mostly soft, but a little bit crunchy, and it's cold and minty and chocolatey and delicious! I gave most of it away layered in between sheets of wax paper in cute little red and green buckets, and it was kind of ridiculously adorable. Noel and I rationed the few squares left for us sparingly, but sadly they didn't last as long as we wanted them to.

However, it was a pain to make. Now that I know how much time is involved, I'd probably still give these another shot because they're so devourable, but I will admit that I was quite grumpy at them the afternoon I was trying to make them. I followed the recipe exactly, but my first batch came out really soft, and all the layers smeared together as I was trying to spread one atop the other. So with the second batch I allowed twice as much cooling time for each step, and it worked a lot better, resulting in the photogenic version that you see in these pictures, but also resulting in me being in the kitchen for several hours.

All in all, I'd recommend making them, especially if you're a peppermint-chocolate lover, but just be prepared to spend almost double the time that her recipe suggests. Oh, and I highly recommend putting all the unwrapped candies in a large, thick ziploc bag, and letting your husband smash them with a hammer. It's a lot faster than trying to crush them with a can or jar as suggested, and plus it made my husband happy to be allowed to smash things.

Merry Christmas Eve!

If you have some last minute baking to do I recommend the following recipes because they're all simple and don't involve any cookie cutters or frosting!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares

Peanut Blossoms

Molasses Cookies

Christmas Cookie Baking: The Saga Continues

Christmas cookie baking is a BIG deal for me! It really doesn't seem quite like the holiday season has fully arrived unless I'm on my feet for at least eight hours, frantically rolling and cutting and sugaring and cooling and frosting and....you get the picture. I blast Christmas music (probably much to the dismay of my neighbors now that I think about it) and bake and bake until the house is fragrant, I've 'sampled' enough dough to potentially give me salmonella, all my tupperwares are full, the tile grout is full of jimmies and sprinkles, and there is flour on literally about 90% of the surfaces in my kitchen.

I try at least one new recipe every year, but there are a few varieties that I always make: most notably the peanut butter kiss cookies and the butter cookies that I've blogged about before (and that are pictured above). But for me the most important are the gingerbread cookies. If it isn't Christmas till I've baked, it definitely isn't Christmas baking until I've made the gingerbread cookies. They're sweet and spicy, fragrant and toothsome, and, most importantly, adorable. I bake them just enough to where they're firm to the touch but still soft to the bite. Covered with a dusting of sugar, they're the perfect accompaniment to a tall glass of milk or a warm cup of cinnamon tea.

The genius thing about my baking this year is that for the first time I was able to make cookies using my new stand mixer. Normally the gingerbread is pretty hard to mix because the dough is too stiff for a hand mixer, which means a lot of elbow grease is involved. But (much to Noel's relief since it's usually his elbow grease) the stand mixer was completely up to the challenge. I mixed the dough up Friday, refrigerated it overnight, and Saturday rolled out about 90 beautiful gingerbread men and bears in no time at all.


Gingerbread Cookies
5 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1 cup white granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 tablespoons vinegar

In a medium bowl combine the flour and spices (first six ingredients) and set aside. In a large bowl (preferably of your stand mixer) cream the shortening and sugar together. Then beat in the egg, the molasses, and the vinegar, making sure to incorporate each thoroughly before adding the next. Once the the wet ingredients are well combined, add the flour slowly, beating well, until all flour is thoroughly combined into the dough. Scrape the dough onto some plastic wrap, shape into a log, and wrap tightly. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or for up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll out small portions of the dough on a well floured surface (keep the rest of the dough in the fridge while you're rolling so that it doesn't get too soft). Roll until about 1/8 inch thick--or up to almost 1/4 of an inch if you want softer cookies. Cut into the desired shapes, place the cookies at least an inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet, and sprinkle with sugar. You can re-roll the scraps, just make sure to add a little bit of cold dough each time so that you're never re-rolling only scraps, because the dough will be too warm, and they'll roll out really thin.

Bake the cookies on the center rack of your oven for 6-7 minutes. The cookies will still be soft. Let them rest on the baking sheet for a minute or two to firm up, then carefully remove to a wire rack to continue cooling. They're delicious while they're still warm, but be careful--they're sort of deceptively cool on the outside and then molten in the middle! They will keep for about ten days in an airtight container. After a few days they may get a little dried out, but if you put a slice of bread or a slice of an apple into the container they will soften up again in a few hours.

Christmas Cookie Baking

Before....

After...

Recipes to follow later...I'm going to put my feet up now...

Veggie Tacos aka See Mom, I Do Eat Vegetables

I've made this vegetarian friendly meal several times since we went to Apple Annie's in September. I like it for three reasons: (1) it means I eat a lot of vegetables in one meal, (2) it only takes about 20 minutes or so to make, and (3) it's delicious! Not as delicious as Valarie's potato tacos, but still, quite tasty.

Basically you saute a bunch of vegetables together for a few minutes, blister a few corn tortillas, put the veggies in the tortillas, sprinkle with cheese and salsa, et voila! Veggie tacos! I don't think I could ever totally be a vegetarian because I would really, really, really miss bacon, but sometimes meals like this make me think twice. It's the perfect meal to serve if you're serving a crowd of both omnivores and herbivores, and it wouldn't be hard at all to make vegan if you just make sure to buy vegan tortillas and skip the cheese. It's also a pretty flexible meal--I use potatoes and bell peppers and onions because that's what I always have on hand, but some zucchini or jicama or tomatoes could also be quite tasty in these. So have a veggie taco party, and experiment with the flavors a little bit!

Veggie Tacos

1 medium baking potato, cubed

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or one serrano pepper, minced)

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 cup corn

1/2 cup black beans

8-10 (six inch) corn tortillas, blistered

shredded cheese and salsa for garnishing

In a large skillet heat a tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat, toss in the potato cubes, coating evenly in oil. Cook the potatoes, lid on, for about five minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, dice the bell peppers and onion. Take the lid off, toss the bell peppers, potatoes, and onion together. Cook for another five minutes or so, stirring often. Once the potatoes seemed cooked through, but the other veggies are still a little bit crisp, add the spices, black beans, and corn. Cook for another minute or so, stirring constantly, until all vegetables are hot through, but don't let it go too long, at this point they get mushy fast.

While the vegetables are cooking, place a small empty skillet over very high heat. Working quickly (but carefully!) place one tortilla at a time in the skillet. Let it sit for about 30 seconds on each side, or until the tortilla blisters slightly and no longer looks uncooked.

Place a few tablespoons of the veggie mixture into the center of each tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese, top with salsa, and enjoy!

Nacho Fondue

I love fondue, but the real thing can be both finicky and pricey. This recipe is a cross between fondue and your basic nacho cheese. It's super easy, and another one of those recipes that I feel isn't really a recipe at all, since there are only four ingredients and a little stirring involved. But the end result is warm and melty and a little bit spicy, and no one will know it was that easy to make!

The nacho fondue is a nice contrast to the exorbitant amounts of sweets being served this time of year. Served with chips and veggies for dipping it makes a nice salty snack, or dolloped on some tortilla chips with beans and guacamole it could be a fast meal. I found this recipe in a Sandra Lee cookbook a few years ago, and it's become one of my go-to recipes for easy entertaining.

Nacho Fondue

adapted from Sandra Lee

1 (10 3/4 oz) can cheddar cheese soup

1 can milk (about a cup I think)

about 2 cups of shredded cheese, cheddar or jack

about 2/3 cup of salsa

In a mid-sized saucepan heat the cheddar cheese soup over medium heat. Refill the soup can with milk, add to the soup, whisk until there aren't any lumps. Stir in the salsa. I start with about 1/2 a cup at first, but I just eyeball this whole recipe, so it may be a little more. Stir in the cheese a handful at a time until the cheese is melted and thoroughly combined into the mixture. If the mixture seems too thick for optimum 'dippability' add a little more salsa and stir until optimum thickness is achieved.

This makes enough to fill a small fondue pot twice, or the recipe can be doubled and served in a crockpot. Serve with fresh veggies, and tortilla chips or bread for dipping. The flavor can be easily adapted by using a milder or spicier salsa, or using a combination of cheeses--have fun with it! Leftovers will keep for a couple of days in the fridge, and can be quickly reheated in a saucepan.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Mini Muffins

My Thanksgiving cooking this year was remarkably simple. I made a couple of breakfast casseroles for brunch at my one set of grandparents, and carted along seven loaves of Amish bread that I had hanging out in the freezer. Then for the other grandparents all I made were sweet potatoes and some mini butterscotch pumpkin muffins from this recipe. The original recipe wasn't bad, but I thought that the spices and butterscotch completely overpowered the pumpkin flavor, which is not what I was looking for. Plus the butterscotch chips stuck to the muffin tins, leaving little empty holes all over the muffins when I pulled them out, so I definitely did not take pictures of them!

Today I made another batch of them, halving the spices and using mini chocolate chips instead of butterscotch chips, and they are awesome! They are moist, evenly spiced, and they have a rich delicious pumpkin flavor interspersed with little bits of chocolate. I highly recommend using the mini chips, it spreads the chocolate flavor out more evenly, and it makes for much less mess--this batch came out of the pans beautifully.

The muffins are ridiculously easy to make. It took me maybe five minutes to mix them up, another five minutes to spoon them into the muffin tins, and then just ten minutes to bake. They're a beautiful orange color before they bake, and they come out orangey-brown and fragrant. I think they'd be perfect for anything from brunch to a late night snack with a glass of milk, especially this time of year. There's just something particularly satisfying about pumpkin and cinnamon and ginger flavors during the holidays....I can't wait to start baking! Stay tuned for TONS of cookie recipes!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Mini Muffins

adapted from allrecipes.com

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
4 oz mini chocolate chips (about 2/3 cup)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease mini-muffin pan with cooking spray. I got about 40 muffins the first time, the second time I filled them a little bit more full and got 36, so make sure you have enough space for 36, or plan to make these in two batches.

In a large bowl, sift together the first nine ingredients, set aside. Whisk together the eggs, butter, and pumpkin in a separate bowl. Stir the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the mini muffin cups, just slightly less than a tablespoonful into each cup.

Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes. If your pans don't all fit on one shelf of your oven make sure to rotate them halfway through. Let cool in pans for about ten minutes, then carefully remove muffins to wire racks to completely cool. Store in an airtight container.