Christmas Cookie Exchange

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This past Saturday I hosted and attended my first cookie exchange!  It was a really fun afternoon of visiting with friends, and snacking on delicious cookies.  I ended up with more than 4 dozen of eight different types of cookies, and I only had to make one kind.  This is a pretty sweet deal.  Get it? Sweet?  Anyway…

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I had a fun time decorating and getting everything ready for the party.  I think I could be very happy as a party planner.  Aside from the tiny breakdown I had on the living room floor when I had yet to take a shower, still had more things to prep and set up, and it was only an hour till the party started, I did an OK job!  Well, if you want the real story, ask Ben.  Or just let me know and I will fill you in on all the nitty gritty details that made my day so horrifically hilarious.

Along with the cookies, we had veggies and a creamy dill dip, crackers and cheese.  To drink I made apple cider and got a Starbucks traveler coffee box, which I highly recommend when you have other things to do for a party, and making coffee isn’t something you want to spend time doing.  Ben bought some very nice carafes to store the coffee, and I am so glad.  I think they will come in handy in my future as a hostess.

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Spice Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

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These cute little cupcakes were for a December birthday lunch at work.  I really over-committed myself this week.  We attended Ben’s office party on Tuesday night, I volunteered to make a dessert for the birthday lunch, I’m bringing Swedish meatballs and a very time consuming little cookie to a Christmas party tonight, and I’m hosting a cookie swap tomorrow that I have yet to bake cookies for.  Yikes!  Needless to say, I did not want to make something complicated or too terribly time-consuming.  So, I made spice cupcakes…from a box! 

I wasn’t lazy enough to use canned frosting, so I made a basic cream cheese frosting and added a few tablespoons of maple syrup.  It was a bit of a stretch for me as a recipe follower, but it turned out to be a nice frosting for the spice cupcakes. 

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Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 8-ounce package cream cheese
  • 2-3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons maple syrup
  1. Cream together butter and cream cheese.
  2. Mix in powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time until it is a bit thicker than your desired consistency.
  3. Add maple syrup and beat until smooth.
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Peanut Butter Fudge: Re-Do

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I was so embarrassed after I tasted the final fudge disaster.  It was hard, crumbly and pretty much inedible.  How can someone with some tiny bit of culinary sense, a relatively competent mind, and a candy thermometer screw up fudge?  Well, I did it!

So, you may want to discontinue reading this blog, unless you want to feel better about yourself and laugh at the woman who couldn’t make something yummy using peanut butter and marshmallow fluff.  I am ashamed!

I felt the need to redeem myself.

My original inspiration was marshmallow fluff.  But now it’s getting serious and I just need a spectacular Peanut Butter Fudge.  So, I tried this recipe from Alton Brown.  It uses the microwave and doesn’t require a candy thermometer.  I was a little skeptical, but the recipe was highly rated, and his recipes have always turned out pretty great when I’ve tried them in the past.

The final product was creamy, sweet, rich and while not seeping with peanut butter flavor, was very good.  It was also incredibly easy.  If you’re planning to make treats for people this Christmas, or need something to add to a cookie tray, this is an easy and yummy fudge.

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Peanut Butter Fudge

(courtesy of Alton Brown)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, plus more for greasing pan
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 pound (about 3 and 3/4 cups) powdered sugar

Directions

  1. Microwave butter and peanut butter for 2 minutes on high.
  2. Stir and microwave on high for 2 more minutes.
  3. Add vanilla and powdered sugar to peanut butter mixture and stir to combine with a wooden spoon.
  4. Pour into a buttered 8 by 8-inch pan lined with waxed paper.
  5. Place a second piece of waxed paper on the surface of the fudge and refrigerate until cool.
  6. Cut into 1-inch pieces and store in an airtight container for up to a week.
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Peanut Butter Fluff Fudge

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fluffMarshmallow Fluff is one of those things that should probably never have been invented.  It wouldn’t have been invented by anyone but Americans.  I love the stuff.  A friend of mine in high school grew up in Boston and began bringing “Fluffernutters” for lunch and I was amazed!  Peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiched in between two slices of white bread.  Perfection…in a weird way.

I had a jar of Fluff in the pantry.  Do not ask me why.  Someone must have snuck it into my shopping cart.  So I found this recipe for peanut butter fudge that uses a jar of the sticky and almost sickeningly sweet white goop.

This wasn’t the best fudge I’ve ever made.  A few years ago I used this recipe from Rachel Ray with terrific results.  I made a few batches; chocolate with peanuts and raisins, and white chocolate with cranberries and pistachios.  Both were delicious and simple.  The recipe can be easily adapted.  Change the chips to white, or peanut butter, and then add in the same amount of any nut, chopped candies or dried fruit.  Endless options!

I might try to create a peanut butter fudge using the Rachel Ray recipe.  This recipe produced good tasting fudge, but it was very dry and crumbly.  I am pretty confident that I did something wrong.  It tastes OK, but maybe not good enough to waste a whole lot of calories.  It may end up in the trash.  I don’t do that often, but when I have a choice between delicious cookie swap cookies and dry sugary fudge…it’s not exactly a tough decision.  If you want to try this and tell me what I did to make such a rock hard pan of sugar, please do!

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Peanut Butter Fudge (cooks.com)

  • 2 1/3 c. sugar
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1/2 of 7 1/2 oz. jar marshmallow fluff
  • 1/2 c. milk
  • 12 oz. jar peanut butter
  1. Cook sugar, butter, marshmallow and milk on stove top over medium-high heat until it boils.
  2. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  3. Remove from the heat, add peanut butter and mix until creamy.
  4. Spread in an 8×8 pan and let cool.
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Marshmallow Wreath

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Isn’t this wreath adorable?  I saw it in the Food Network magazine that I picked up at the airport so that I would have some “reading” material for the plane.  I saw it and immediately knew I had to make it.  There are also ideas for making wreaths out of rock candy, cinnamon sticks and popcorn.  All very cute, but this was my favorite.  You can see them all here.

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My color scheme this year for Christmas is blue, white, silver and sparkle, so this wreath seemed like a perfect addition to our holiday decor.

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Mine doesn’t look like the one in the magazine, but I think it turned out pretty great considering my skill in crafts.

It took me about 30 minutes to put together, not including the time it needs to set in the fridge.  Make sure you let it set.  When I hung this on my door I could see that an hour in the fridge was not enough as the soft mallows began to get flattened.  I will hang it permanently tomorrow.

In the first stages of attaching the marshmallows it looked like it would end up being a complete disaster.  I started to brainstorm what I could make with all the marshmallows I bought.  But I kept adding more and more marshmallows, and it started to take shape.  I filled in the holes with the mini mallows, and while there are some spots of styrofoam visible, it looks OK.

I may not be the most creative or crafty person out there, but I made a wreath, I made it out of food, and I had fun doing it.  So, for me anyway, this was a success.

Here are the instructions, if you’d like to make one yourself.  I think it would be cute to make little ones and use them as candle rings, or even as napkin rings.  One successful crafting experience and I’m getting entirely too ambitious!  Maybe I’ll just stick with this so that I can avoid any disappointment in crafting disasters.

Marshmallow Wreath

  • You will need a few bags of large marshmallows, and one bag of mini marshmallows.
  • Insert about 150 toothpicks halfway into a 12-inch flat foam wreath, then skewer a marshmallow onto each toothpick.
  • Refrigerate overnight to set.
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Italian Cream Cake & “Happy Birthday Ben!”

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I love my husband.  I love when he has a birthday because I get to shower him with gifts, and a special birthday dinner.  I really love that his favorite cake is Italian cream because that is also MY favorite cake!  What are the chances?  We were meant to be.  So, when November 30th rolls around I have a great reason to make this cake.  It is so perfect.

icc1I have several recipes for this cake.  All 3 are from mothers of my college friends.  They are hand written and marked with water, cake batter, and one is even scorched on the edge.  I love when recipes get like that.  I like to see the differences in recipes and figure out how those differences effect the end product.  With these recipes however, the ingredients and processes are almost identical.  This leaves me to conclude that over time this recipe has been perfected and therefore should not be messed with.

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Grandma June’s Pecan Pie

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Thanksgiving was wonderful.  Ben and I traveled to my sister’s house in Dallas to spend the holiday with my parents, my 3 sisters and their husbands, my nephew, cousins and their husbands,  their kiddos, my aunt and uncle and grandpa.   We had 19 people for lunch on Thursday, and it was so great to have so many people there.  It’s getting harder and harder for all of us to get together now that everyone is moving to all ends of the country and having kids.  So, this was a special Thanksgiving.  The food was incredible and included a cornucopia of turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green bean and mushroom casserole, balsamic roasted sweet potatoes, sauteed carrots and fennel, and flaky rolls.

Dessert is a favorite part of the meal.  Pies are the traditional Thanksgiving dessert in our family.  This year we had apple streusel, pumpkin, and cinnamon custard pies, a gingerbread pear tart, and a chocolate chip pumpkin bundt cake.  We did not make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving day, but I just couldn’t stand not having a piece this year.  So we made one after Thanksgiving…not that we really needed any more pie, but a little extra pie never really hurt anyone.

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Daring Bakers: I took the Cannoli

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Deep frying food is not something that I do very often, so I was a little weary of this challenge. However, my experiences as a Daring Baker have prepared me for this.  I was ready for cannoli!  Bring it on.

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

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Eggnog Pie

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eggnog3The cookbook that gave me macaroon pie also gave me the base for this pie.  It is a buttermilk pie, but in putting it together I thought to myself, “What flavors could I add to this pie to make it less simple and plain?”  The answer from my creative inner self was…eggnog!  I had nutmeg and for some strange reason I had rum.  I think I’ve had this bottle for a few years and I’m not sure where it came from.  Anyway…  I figured this was a good plan.  After all, the holiday season is approaching and if the grocery store is selling eggnog, I can make an eggnog pie.

I have to admit something.  I don’t like drinking eggnog.  It makes me feel like I’m drinking melted ice cream.  A little too thick for my taste.  However, I do like things that are eggnog flavored.  I like eggnog ice cream.  While visiting my sister in New York one Christmas we went to Jacques Torres shop and I bought a box of holiday truffles.  The white chocolate eggnog truffle was spectacular.  If you’re in NYC this season you should stop by and get one…or more than one.  The gingerbread truffle was also very good.  Oh, and you have to buy the chocolate covered Cherrio’s that they sell!  I’m getting carried away now.

Anyway, I won’t drink a cup of eggnog, but I will eat something that takes like it.  It’s a texture thing I suppose.  I guess I am my mother’s daughter.  I’m not sure if this is acceptable or not, but I felt I should admit this character flaw to you.

I added some rum and nutmeg to the base of this pie.  I contemplated adding cinnamon, but ended up deciding against it.  Maybe I will try it next time.  I used a store bought pie crust to save some time.  I’ve tried my hand at making scratch pie crust before, and I don’t think it’s too terribly hard to make something edible, but achieving a perfect, buttery, flaky crust is no simple task.  It is also a rather time consuming process and makes a mess of your kitchen.  A weeknight dessert should not require a lot of cleaning up.  The refrigerated crusts taste pretty good, so I am OK using them every now and then.

I liked the flavor, and found it pretty similar to eggnog.  The crust had a good crunch, and the filling was smooth and creamy.  I served this with simple sweetened whipped cream (you can use cool whip in a time crunch).  A simple and easy pie.  It may not make you fall over and cry with delight, but it it good.  Try it without the nutmeg and rum for a simple buttermilk pie.

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Eggnog Pie

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 tablespoons rum
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 1 unbaked pastry shell
  1. Combine sugar and flour in a large bowl.
  2. Mix in eggs, buttermilk, butter, vanilla, rum and nutmeg.
  3. Pour into pie shell.
  4. Bake at 425° for 10 minutes.
  5. Turn oven temperature down to 350° and bake for 30 minutes more.
  6. Let cool; serve with whipped cream.
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Crazy Delicious Creamed Corn

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This was the side dish for last night’s dinner, but I could have eaten this as my meal and been very happy and satiated.  While contemplating dinner I had to consider a few things.  What did we have the last  few nights?  Thai curry and spaghetti casserole.  What kind of food is appropriate for the weather?  It’s cool, but not quite soup or chili weather yet.  How much time do I want to spend?  An hour tops.  Should I make something that is left-over friendly?  Yes!  Always yes.  After carefully considering all of these issues, I chose a Mexican style chipotle chicken and creamed corn.

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The chicken was delicious, and served double duty in chicken tacos the following night.  However, the creamed corn was the star of this meal in my opinion.  I used canned whole kernel corn instead of corn cut fresh from the cob because I am lazy.  It still turned out great.  The preparation and total cooking time are minimal.  Using canned instead of fresh corn makes it even quicker.  I really liked the combination of whole kernels and creamy corn puree.  The contrasting textures are wonderful.  This side probably serves 4-5, but is great re-heated and would easily double, so go ahead and make a double batch.  It is that good.

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