This recipe combines 2 of New Orleans’ most popular desserts – The flavors of Bananas Foster, in the form of a praline! Highly addictive.
Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category
Bananas Foster Pralines
Friday, October 30th, 2009Pistachio Brittle
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Another version of a more traditional standby! My husband ADORES pistachios – this brittle is a holiday favorite at our house! Makes a great gift, also.
Ginger Molasses Sponge Toffee
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
This is a unique take on an earlier recipe I posted, Sponge Toffee. While traditional sponge toffee was always a favorite as a kid, I developed this recipe to satisfy my more mature tastes as an adult.
This sponge toffee was inspired by one of my favorite goodies, my grandmother’s ginger-molasses cookies. (Recipe coming in December!)
Candy Apples
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Candy Apples are a fun activity for the family, are cheap and easy to make, inspire nostalgia, and are a tasty way to use some of the bountiful apples this season. What’s not to love?
Well.. aside from sugar burns, anyway. While this is an easy recipe, I recommend keeping little hands away from the cooking sugar, and ideally away from the dipping process as well. Kids can have just as much fin picking out the apples, the flavors, etc… without the risk!
Banana Walnut Brittle
Monday, October 26th, 2009
While Peanut Brittle is always nice, I do like to get crazy with things every once in awhile. This is one of my favorite variations on an old standard! This is also particularly nice for gift giving at the holidays!
Decorated Sugar Cookies
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Well, Halloween is just around the corner, so now’s a great time to post our recipe for decorated sugar cookies!
These are great to serve guests at your halloween party, or as a weekend activity for kids, or even to hand out to your favorite Treat or Treaters. Very easy to make, and can be a lot of fun!
Cookie Ingredients
2 cups butter, softened
2 1/3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
4 egg yolks – Reserve egg whites for icing!
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract*
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
7 cups all purpose flour
Icing Ingredients
4 egg whites
1 Tbsp lemon juice
4-6 cups powdered/confectioner’s sugar
In a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add in eggs and egg whites, a little at a time, beating well between each addition. Add vanilla extract, and mix until well incorporated and smooth.
Mix remaining 3 ingredients together, carefully stir into wet ingredients until fully incorporated.
Wrap dough in plastic film, chill for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, grease cookie sheets.
On a floured counter, roll cookie dough out to about 1/4″ thick (can be up to 1/2″ thick if you prefer a thicker cookie). Use cookie cutters to cut out whatever shapes you’d like, place cookies 2″ apart on greased cookie sheets.
Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until bottoms look lightly golden. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for at least 5 minutes before moving. Cookies need to cool completely before decorating.
In clean stand mixer, whip egg whites until foamy. Add lemon juice, whip for another minute. Slowly add powdered sugar until cookie icing reaches desired consistency. You will want a thicker frosting for piping details and borders. If you’re wanting to “flow” the icing within piped borders, icing can be thinned with a little lemon juice or water.
* 2 tsp Anise extract can be substituted for a fun variation. I especially like using anise (black licorice flavor) for doing cookies that will be shaped/decorated like black cats or bats.
Sauerkraut Balls (Pyrizhky?)
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
I recently obtained this recipe from my aunt, by way of my grandmother. My husband was professing his love for sauerkraut, and I recalled the sauerkraut balls that this aunt used to make around the holidays. I remembered them being really addictive little bread balls filled with sauerkraut and bacon, but couldn’t remember much past that – it had been 2 decades since I’d had one!
So, after a couple of calls, I received an email with the vague recipe. I *immediately* set about making a batch for my husband. Between the bread, kraut, and bacon, I think he was about to start foaming at the mouth if I didn’t get right on it!
Sauerkraut Balls (Pyrizhky?)
Dough:
1/2 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 envelope yeast
4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup sour cream
Filling:
1 lb bacon, chopped
1 bag saurkraut (about 19 oz), drained
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt
Pepper
Melted butter
Prepare the dough:
Gently mix together warm water, sugar, and yeast. Allow to sit for 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix together flour and salt. Form a well in the middle, and pour oil, eggs, and sour cream into it. Mix
well, then add the yeasty water. Mix until everything is well incorporated, then knead lightly for 2 minutes. Place dough in
a large, greased bowl. Cover and allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
As you are waiting for the dough to rise, prepare the filling:
Cook bacon & onions until bacon is almost cooked, but not crispy. Add saurkraut to the pan, cook and stir well until bacon fat is absorbed and everything is heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let cool.
Assemble the sauerkraut balls:
Roll dough out to an even 1/4″ thickness. Cut rounds that are between 3″-4″ in diameter.
On the center of each round, place a mound of about 1 Tbsp filling. Gather edges of the round and seal the filling in (like a drawstring bag). Roll around between your hands a bit to get a uniform spherical shape, and place on a lightly greased / sprayed baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough/filling, leaving at least 2″ between dough balls.
Loosely cover cookie sheets with plastic wrap, and allow to rise another hour.
Heat oven to 350F. Remove pastic wrap from cookie sheets, bake for 25 minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven and brush liberally with melted butter.
Great served hot, fresh out of the oven, cold, or even reheated. IF they last that long.
Mocha Nanaimo Bars
Saturday, August 15th, 2009
Picture it. Vancouver, Canada… 1986. I was a little girl on the trip of a lifetime – experiencing Expo ‘86. I was young enough that most of the memories from it are now a blur, or reduced to general feelings and thoughts (”That was cool!”), but 2 few things stood out then, and still remain fresh in my mind today:
Sweet Ecstasy Cookies
Monday, July 20th, 2009
These cookies are utterly insane. My mother originally came up with the recipe, and I tweaked it to suit my tastes. The result is something so addictive, it’s gone by some Not-quite-G-Rated nicknames over the years. When friends request them, it’s always “crack cookies”. You get the picture.
“Midwest goes Southwest” Hotdish
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
If you’re not in / from Minnesota, you may not be familiar with “hot dish”. A cultural staple here, no potluck is complete without one. Here’s my favorite take on the tradition:
