sausage, snow, & bubbles

okay, enough with the snow. and that's all i have to say about that. :)

let's warm up to a quick tour of a few "cool" hits from the net:

• nerd alert! sure, there, there are gloves that help you access your iphone in the cold and snow...but what about sausage??
• apparently, my northern kinfolk have never heard of snow cream. well y'all, it's a southern-thing. if you don't believe me, just ask paula deen!
• what do you do while you're snowed in AND it's valentine's weekend? enjoy a little bubbly, that's what! might i suggest something that tastes top-notch and it's $ friendly - gruet blanc de noirs. sooooo yummy!!
• if you're thinking of doing some cooking this weekend for your sweetie, you're not gonna find any better recipes than those in thomas keller's newest book - ad hoc at home. (finally got my holiday back ordered copy! thanks, richard!) and if you're not familiar with keller's ad hoc concept - go here.
• and some chill music to play us out...airplanes by local natives

Airplanes

Local Natives | MySpace Music Videos

season's eatins!

(from l to r: oatmeal chocolate chip, gingerbread, chocolate)

'tis the season to be baking! well, at least in my kitchen. and there is nothing i like baking better than cookies. large batches of cookies come from my kitchen two times a year - christmas & valentine's day. so, let's take a look at who made this year's christmas cookie "nice" list!

first, (and everyone's favorite) aunt jean's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies...

what you need:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup sweet butter
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups of old fashioned oats and chocolate chips (walnuts are a tasty option too!)

how you do it:

first, beat the sugars & butter until smooth and fluffy. once everything looks fluffy, add eggs, milk, & vanilla. in a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder. then gradually beat that mixture into the batter. finally, stir in the oats & chocolate chips (and walnuts) by hand. drop spoonfulls of dough on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

next up, steph's chocolate gooey butter cookies...

what you need:
1 (8oz) brick cream cheese, room temp
1 stick butter, room temp
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18oz) box moist chocolate cake mix
confectioners sugar, for dusting

how you do it:

in a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. beat in the egg. then beat in the vanilla extract. beat in the cake mix. cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner’s sugar. (the batter is still really sticky after 2 hours but the powder sugar will help form the balls). place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 for 12 min. the cookies will remain soft and “gooey”. cool Completely and sprinkle with more confectioners sugar, if desired.

and the newest addition to the list, gingerbread(!)...
adapted from food network magazine, december 2009

what you need:

1 3/4 cups of dark brown sugar
1 stick butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
large pinch of ground cinnamon & cloves

how you do it:
beat sugar and butter until fluffy, then beat in egg, vanilla, molasses, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. in a separate bowl, whisk flour, salt, and soda together; stir into butter mixture. drop by the spoonful, sprinkle with coarse sugar and bake 8-12 minutes at 350.

thanks to all my friends & family who pass along their recipes for all to share! season's eatins!!

rainy day diy

photo courtesy of starbucks.com

or at least it's raining in my 'hood. and it is supposed to continue raining all weekend. yuck. i though it would be a good time to share recipe a found a few weeks back on making you own pumpkin spice latte (a la starbucks) at home. 'cause who really wants to go out for coffee when there is a wind chill of 35 degrees and the rain is coming down?

i thought so. here's the breakdown:

pumpkin spice latte

from thekitchn.com

makes 1-2 servings

ingredients:

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons canned pumpkin or 1 teaspoon of torani pumpkin spice syrup (your choice)

2 tablespoons sugar or sugar substitute - you can halve this amount

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1-2 shots espresso (about 1/4 cup of espresso or 1/2 cup of strong brewed coffee if you don't have an espresso machine.)

directions:

in a saucepan combine milk, pumpkin and sugar and cook on medium heat, stirring, until steaming. remove from heat, stir in vanilla and spice, transfer to a blender and process for 15 seconds until foamy. if you don't have a blender, don't worry about it - just whisk the mixture really well with a wire whisk. pour into a large mug or two mugs. add the espresso on top.

optional: top with whipped cream and sprinkle pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or cinnamon on top.

if you don't have the time (or ingredients) for all this, try just sprinkling a little pumpkin pie spice in your everyday morning brew. truly delightful!! (thanks kj in boston for hooking me up with that idea!)

love at first sight

when i saw it, i knew i had to make it. the cookie cake pie. cookie. cake. pie. admit it, those three words bring a sweet smile to you face.
so i did it. i made my own cookie cake pie. and my, oh my was it good. so good in fact that every time i make it friends ask how i did it. i wish i could tell them it took hours of slaving in the kitchen to create such a perfect, yummy dessert. but it is really soooooooo simple. the original recipe called for making your own pie crust and cookie dough. now, i'm sure making your own crust and dough would be delightful - and i plan on trying that one day - but this summer i've been sticking to using the following method:

• one box of cake mix (i did use funfetti cake mentioned in the original recipe)
• one bag of cookie dough mix (i use chocolate chip)
• one frozen pie crust (i use plain)
• one container of butter cream icing (yum!)

i prepare all three as directed and then i begin the process:

• cover the pie crust with a good-size layer of the cookie dough
• pour the cake mix over the cookie dough and pie crust
• put the concoction in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 40-50 minutes (until the cake is cooked through and a nice golden brown)
• cool the cake, frost, and decorate to your liking

viola! the cookie cake pie is made! quite possibly the cutest, yummiest thing you can bring to a summer bbq or a sunday gathering! and the cookie, cake, and pie combination possibilities are endless...enjoy!

sunday mornings, i love.

typically on sunday mornings mike and i wake up, make some french press, have a little breakfast, take peyton for a walk, and then decide what culinary adventure i will dive into for the rest of the morning. this morning, since i am a golf widow, i decided to try my hand at peach scones. yum!

since it is peach season, and i just got back from carolina, i though that would be well, delightful!

never made scones from scratch before (and in full disclosure most of my scone experience comes from starbucks - sad.) so i went searching on the web for a peach scone recipe. and viola! I found one!

trust me, they are much better than they look (my wedges didn't quite work out). i sprinkled a little sugar on them for an added sweet touch. :) the recipe created very moist and crumbly scones. they will be perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea (or in my case, latte).

and as always my trusty assistant, miss peyton mae, was there to help in the kitchen. our soundtrack was a little joshua radin. his voice is perfect for sunday mornings.

so that's my first post. yay! more to come....