Hot Chocolate Cookies

Just made a batch of these using my NEW 1" ice cream scoop for perfect little balls of chocolate lovin' with little effort.

I made them using butter instead of coconut oil (none on-hand) and forgot to add 1/4 cup chocolate chips at the end, just melted it all.

Mix well with your bare (clean) hand and form into balls.  They don't spread or change shape at all when you bake them, so you can line them up in tight rows on the pan.

So rich and yummy!  Use the best quality chocolate you have.

Food, family, friends and fun (recipe for Pineapple Squares)

I'll be home with my kids and partner for this holiday season.  My parents are flying here tomorrow and will be with us for a whole week!  They'll get a pretty good "feel" for what life is like for us.  It's pretty chaotic at times, magical at others.  I'm so fortunate to have people around me that I love, that love me, we all have good health and are, for the most part, very happy people.

We'll be eating a turkey that led a happy life, organic vegetables and pineapple squares (my father's favourite recipe, but I'll be switching out the heavenly shortbread base for a graham crust as my father gets heartburn from the shortbread).  I had a difficult time finding a recipe similar to the one my Mum uses that is from a United Church cookbook from Newfoundland.  The name of the squares is a hard one to nail down and get the right list of ingredients.  Here's my Mum's version:

Low fat (tee-hee) Pineapple Squares

 

1st layer: Mix 2 cups flour, 1 c. butter and 4 T sugar.  Save 1/2 c. for crumbs if you want them for top of squares.  Press on bottom of 8 or 9" pan.  Bake 20 minutes at 350F and then cool.

2nd layer: Cream 1/2 soft butter, 1.5 C icing sugar and 2 eggs. Add to cooled base layer.

3rd layer: Whip 1c. of whipping cream and add a drained small can of pineapple.

4th layer: Reserved crumbs from base or cherries or nothing.

 

Note: if you are ever making them for your Dad (his fav recipe) use graham cracker crumb base as he get heartburn from shortbread base.

 

Here is a link to a blog that has an image like mine will look like in a couple of days when I make them.

 

How are you spending the holiday season?  Do you get any extra days off?  Are you traveling?  Do you wish you were with someone you cannot be with or somewhere?  What are you most looking forward to?  Anything you'd like to share?

Butterscotch Sauce

So, I've figured out one of my problems with this whole blogging thing - I'm overzealous.

I make something and then get so excited to share it with you that I don't always have pictures or know how said dish reacts to being frozen or left on the counter for three days.  I don't practice the dish with substitutions or give myself a day or two to mull it over and really know how I feel about it.

I will work on this.

But in the meantime, I'd like to share a recipe impulsively again.  Just for old times' sake.

Who can go wrong with butterscotch sauce?!  The recipe states you can "serve Hot Butterscotch Sauce warm over vanilla or chocolate ripple ice cream, pound cake slices, peach or apple pie, tapioca pudding, baked custard."  Oh my goodness!  The Big Kid and I love tapioca pudding and when I read that blurb to him, his eyes got big and he was slowly nodding his head.  I guess I know what we're having for snack tomorrow! 

Apple pie!  Pound cake!  Apple slices!  Waffles!  Oh my!

I don't get out enough.

I also don't make butterscotch sauce enough.

I'm going to change that right now.

Hot Butterscotch Sauce
from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup half-n-half or 10%
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
- combine all in a small pot and bring to a boil over medium heat (or medium high) stirring occasionally.
- serve as above or on a spoon (once cooled to a safe temp)
- store in an airtight bottle or in a squeeze bottle in the fridge for a couple of weeks or at room temperature for several days.

Waffles, plain ol' waffles

Here are two fabulous waffle recipes from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook.

Regular waffles
1 3/4 cup flour (white or whole wheat)
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk
1/3 cup oil (or melted butter)
2 eggs
- whisk dry
- whisk wet
- combine to thoroughly blended
- make in waffle iron as directed (or pancakes)

Buttermilk waffles
1 3/4 cup flour (white or whole wheat)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk *
1/3 cup oil (or melted butter)
2 eggs
- whisk dry
- whisk wet
- combine to thoroughly blended
- make in waffle iron as directed (or pancakes)

* if you don't have buttermilk in your fridge here's a reliable substitution:
     pour 1 Tbsp white vinegar in a measuring glass
     top up to the top with milk and let it stand about 5 minutes to react
Here are a few more ideas to sub for buttermilk.

Each of the above recipes makes about 20 waffles in my waffle iron.  That's refilling the 4 squares 5 times with 1/3 cup batter each.  Batter recipes can be doubled.

Waffles make a great leftover snack as is or warmed slightly in the toaster.  They also freeze and thaw exceptionally well for an almost effortless breakfast.  Cook once, eat twice - yeah, baby!

Top with anything you can imagine!  Table syrup, maple syrup, corn syrup, Hot Butterscotch Sauce, fruit, whipped cream, Nutella, peanut butter with a sprinkling of brown sugar, bananas, sunbutter, lemon juice and icing sugar, an egg and a slice of bacon...

Another person's blog

Man, this woman can cook! 

She feeds a big family, loves to put stuff in the freezer, bakes for her neighbours and is a joy to read, at least, in my opinion.

Please meet Ree, The Pioneer Woman.

Holiday cookie exchange

I took part in a cookie exchange today!

I feel like I won a jackpot.

Here is what I scored:

Here is what I shared:

See the difference?  I used fancy plastic wrap and most of them used their imaginations.

I scored snowballs, chocolate chip cookies, peppermint bark, spiced sugar cookies, butter cookies with cherries on top, white chocolate lemon drop cookies, lemon rolled cookies, gingerbread men, oatmeal raisin cookies.  Great variety and I'm kind of surprised there weren't any shortbread cookies.  So far, the quality of the ingredients used is good too, though I have yet to sample them all.

We brought a treat to share, but because the cookie I made to exchange had peanuts in it, I did not share them in the nut-free facility we were using for the event.  I made a batch of cake balls and shared them instead.  They went over well, but they weren't the biggest hit.  I honestly feel the butter cookies with the cherries on them were better. 

I'm really impressed with the perceived effort that went into the gingerbread men.  This means she rolled out, cut out and fully decorated 72 individual cookies.  That's more dedication than I had for the cookie exchange.

 

 

 

 In retrospect, I will put more imagination and effort in to a cookie exchange next year and maybe my offerings will be dressed to impress!

I made Janet & Greta Podleski's Girl Guy Cookies, a cross between a peanut butter cookie and a spicy molasses cookie.  They are chewy and bake up really purdy-like so they look good for setting out on a platter and trading to new friends and neighbours.  The recipe is here for the Girl-Guy Cookies.

Girl-Guy Cookies with a chewy centre and crispy outside.

Tuna Noodle Casserole and a cheese sauce recipe

After a busy Sunday out 'n about (where I come from that's pronounced "oot 'n aboot") we landed home with a Christmas tree and no premeditated supper.

I was in the mood for noodles and tuna so I whipped up a tuna noodle casserole.  I based it on a recipe from Janet and Greta Podleski's cookbook Eat, Shrink & Be Merry.  I also used a white sauce from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook as I did not have a can of condensed soup on-hand.  I've been maintaining a pretty bare pantry lately in an effort to use what I have already.

Tuna Noodle Stovetop Casserole
based on Janet & Greta Podleski
1 375g pkg rotini (or any small shape)(I used whole wheat)
2 cups frozen vegetables (I used peas and corn)
1 batch of cheese sauce (recipe below)
1 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
3 cans tuna (or bnls sknls salmon), drained
- cook pasta according to pkg directions, adding frozen veggies for the last 5 minutes.  Drain.
- meanwhile, prepare cheese sauce
- meanwhile, in a big pot, melt butter over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic and cook just to softened (about 5 minutes).  Add cheese sauce, salt and pepper to taste.  Mix well.  Stir in pasta, vegetables and tuna.  Serve hot.

Cheese Sauce
from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cook
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp paprika
1 cup milk or half-n-half
1/2 - 1 cup grated cheese (can be medium cheddar or older)
- melt butter in small pot, add flour, salt, pepper and paprika over low heat, whisk well.
- slowly add milk, stirring constantly, to thickened.  Remove from heat and add cheese, stir to melted.

Now, without adding the pasta to the tuna / cheese / veg sauce mixture above, it could easily have been served on toast, maybe thinned out just a bit with a bit more milk or cream.  It was so tasty!  I found mixing in the pasta really dulled the tuna mixture's flavour.  It's hard to stay straight-faced as I talk to you about creamed tuna on toast, I have to admit.  It's not a serious subject.

The above-mentioned cheese sauce is also great on a package of elbow macaroni for mac 'n cheese.  I recently posted about this white sauce here and suggested how great it was on broccoli.  I wasn't kidding.  I'd mix the broccoli with the pasta and pour on this cheese sauce. 

Mmmmmm