white christmas chili

A great way to end 2010...with one of my favorites of all time!  
And, granted, not a sweet for this time of the year, but it does have "Christmas" in the title!

White Christmas chili....oh-so-delicious!  It's hearty but healthy and very satisfying when it's getting colder out there :)
Hope you all had a great year and have a very blessed New Year!!

White Christmas Chili

Serves 4-6.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts halves

5 cups water

1 onion, diced and divided

2 tablespoons butter

2 celery ribs, diced

3 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed, divided

3 small cans of chopped green chilies (on the Mexican isle)

1 cup chicken stock

1 teaspoon cumin

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

Shredded cheese

Sour cream

Poach chicken in water and half of the onion in a deep pot on medium high for 15-18 minutes or until chicken is done.  Remove chicken, reserving broth.  Dice chicken. 

Melt butter in skillet; add celery and onion and sauté.  Stir chicken, celery mixture, 2 cans beans and next 6 ingredients into reserved broth in the deep pot.  Bring to boil then reduce to medium low and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally.  Process the remaining can of beans in a food processor and stir into chili.  Remove bay leaf and garnish with cheese and sour cream.  Enjoy!!

gingerbread pancakes

Merry Christmas!

Remember the real reason for the season!

After a month of cookies, I'm sure you are looking for something a little less sweet.

Too bad.

It's Christmas and I want Christmas pancakes :)

Gingerbread Pancakes

Serves 4.

3 eggs

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup brewed coffee

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons ginger

1 teaspoon nutmeg

4 tablespoons melted butter

Whip the eggs and the brown sugar until frothy in a large mixing bowl.

Add the buttermilk, water and coffee and stir to combine.

Sift the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.

Add the dry ingredients into the egg mixture.

Mix until just combined.  Add melted butter and combine.

Pour by 1/3 cup onto a hot, buttered skillet and cook until little bubbles rise to the surface.  Flip and cook until cooked through.  Serve with butter and maple syrup!  

See you after the New Year!

sugar cookies

Actually, this is just the dough.
And actually, in our family, we call this recipe "Christmas Cookies."
Because that's all we ever do with it.
It makes the most delicious roll-out cookies ever.
Frost with homemade butter-cream and have the little ones decorate with sprinkles...*sigh*.

But, you don't have to frost and decorate these sugar cookies...you can leave it as is and do anything with it!
Roll into balls and coat with sugar....these would be the real sugar cookies.
Drop into balls and add a spoonful of jam as jam thumbprints.
Cut into bars, chill, bake off and dip into chocolate as shortbread.
Use as a pie crust for a no-bake peanut butter pie.
Roll in cinnamon and sugar for snickerdoodles.
....the possibilities are endless!

Sugar Cookies
Makes a gazillion.  Really.  About 50, I'd say.
But you can half this if you only want a few...

5 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

4 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 cups sugar

2 cups Crisco

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sour milk (add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice to milk to sour for 10-15 minutes)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift flour, soda, cream of tartar, nutmeg and a pinch of salt in a large bowl.   

Cream shortening and sugar in the biggest bowl you have.  

Add eggs and half of dry ingredients to the creamed mixture.   

Mix well and add last half of dry ingredients, along with milk and vanilla.   

Cover and chill well – 3 hours.  

Preheat your oven to 350*.

Dust your counter top with flour and roll dough out to about 1/4" thickness. 
(I usually only do 1/4 of the dough at a time...a lot easier!)

Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and bake for about 10 minutes till light tan. 

Frost with icing and decorate!

homemade oreos

I'm not even really sure that I have to say anything here.

If you don't like oreos, then you can't be my friend.

My husband says that there are two things that I will eat until I explode.  

Or get a stomach ache.

Or both.

Numero uno is Blue Bell ice cream.  Homemade Vanilla.  Or Cookies N Cream.  Tough call.

And numero dos is oreos.

(Which, I imagine, is why I like Cookies N Cream ice cream.  Oreos in ice cream. *sigh*)

But, anyway, back to the oreos.

I can eat rows and rows of oreos. 

It's really fascinating/disgusting to watch.

I eat them plain.

I eat them mushy in milk.

I eat the insides first.

Any way I can get 'em.

So, anyway, apparently I did have a few lines to type out about oreos.

But, mostly, it was just nonsense.

So, just ignore me and go bake these.

Homemade Oreos

Makes about 25 of the correct size, but if you use the wrong scoop and make them double what they should be, it makes about 16...

Adapted from Retro Desserts, which I have to say, was a bit deceiving.  These are fantastic.  But, they are not "real" oreos.

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar 

1 1/4 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 large egg

1/2 stick butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup Crisco
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla 

Preheat your oven to 375*. 

In a food processor (or in a large bowl), mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass. 

Take rounded teaspoons (and if you don't want ginormous oreos, use an actual teaspoon.  I used a two-teaspoon scoop and they were huge.) of batter and place on a Silpat-lined baking sheet about two inches apart. With slightly wet fingers, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes. Set aside to cool. 

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy. 

To make the cookies, in a zip-lock bag with the corner cut off, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, about equal in size to the first, on top of the filling. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. 

Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream and enjoy!!

Anyone still reading??  I just thought of a fantastic future blog post!!  What about making oatmeal cookies and stuffing them with the cream?!  Oatmeal creme pies, anyone??  Hmm...let me think on this....

espresso chocolate shortbread cookies

So, I know I already did shortbread cookies this month. 

But, sometimes, something just calls out to you.

And while searching for a new cookie recipe for my friend who's husband just deployed, I stumbled across this little beauty.  

She loves coffee and dark chocolate and especially something that she we can dip into a mug of hot coffee.  

And possibly eat with dark chocolate.

So, while my poor little man was crying to be fed and my husband was crying to be fed, I was whipping these up for my friend who was crying for her husband.

And yes, I did feed my two men (mommy's milk and a salmon citrus salad, respectively, which, by the way, did not work out and will not be blogged) while the cookies were baking and then ran over to eat them while they were still warm.

I hope that they distracted her, just for a little while, at least.

Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Makes about 32.

Taken from Smitten Kitchen.

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 sticks butter, room temperature
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

2 cups flour
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (or milk chocolate, toffee, or mini chocolate chips)

Powdered sugar, for dusting (optional)

Dissolve the espresso in the boiling water, and set aside to cool to lukewarm.

Beat the butter and powdered sugar together for around 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and espresso, then add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chopped chocolate.

Form into a large disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or for up to 2 days. (Or, if you are about to head over to your friend's house and your child is crying to be fed, then just stick it in the freezer for 20ish minutes...)

Preheat the oven to 325*. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Remove the dough from the fridge/freezer.  Roll out into a 1/2" thick rectangle.  Cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until very pale – they shouldn’t take on much color at all or they won't be tender. Transfer the cookies to a rack.

Deb from Smitten Kitchen suggests that if you’d like, dust the cookies with powdered sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!! 

And stack into Stonehenge while your wife isn't looking, if you'd like...

lemon ricotta tea cookies

Now, I do realize that it is the middle of December and I'm asking you to try a clearly-Spring-like cookie.

But, sometimes, when it's so cold outside, you really need a pick-me-up.

Now, you can choose a granola bar, an apple, or a shot of tequila, if you'd like.  

But, personally, I'll always choose a cookie over those items.

And a bright, zingy cookie, at that!

*is zingy a word?*

Lemon Ricotta Tea Cookies

Makes 40ish.

Adapted from GDL.

2 1/2 cups flour 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 stick butter, softened 

2 cups sugar 

2 eggs 

1 15-ounce container ricotta cheese 

3 tablespoons lemon juice 

1 lemon, zested 

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 

3 tablespoons lemon juice 

1 lemon, zested

Preheat your oven to 375*.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 

Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. 

Stir in the dry ingredients.

 
Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the dough onto your baking sheets. 

Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. 

Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours.  
Or just go ahead and spoon the icing on and let it melt down the sides.  
But it's messier that way.  
Enjoy!