Holiday Food

Whole Wheat Popovers with Greek Yogurt Creme and Strawberries

April 27, 2012 by Rebecca 9 Comments

Two days ago, I walked into a doctor’s office and paid them to shoot lasers into my eyes. I felt very Jetsons… very Star Trek… very Galaxy Quest. I half expected Dr. Crusher to walk into the room to scan me. My sole disappointment was the utter lack of sound effects accompanying the laser eye procedure. I would’ve paid another few bucks for a good solid “PEWPEWPEW”. One hour later, I walked out of the office in a very chic (ahem) pair of goggles and 20/20 vision for the first time in my entire life.

Woah.

Let me just say that again.

Woah.

Science is cool. Unlike me in my Weird Al t-shirt and goggles. I did my very best Bono impersonation. I think that judging by the sniggers-not-swoons reception that my attempts received, I should leave the rock-starring to Paul David Hewson and Weird Al (who DOES rock, thankyouverymuch) and confine my rocking to the kitchen. And I do rock the kitchen, goggles or no goggles.

Let me tell you, this recipe doesn’t just rock, it rocks. the. Casbah. Popovers are simplicity itself: a simple batter thrown together in the blender, poured into a greased pan, then baked at a high temperature until puffy. You already win when you make popovers, but these are special. These are (wait for it…) HEALTHY! Holy moly. It’s true. These are whole wheat popovers. True, they puff ever so slightly less than their all-purpose counterparts, but the difference is negligible really and what you lose in loft (I promise, it’s not much!) you more than make up for in flavour and health. What in the world does a popover have to do with dessert you ask? Oh boy. You are in for a treat. Whisk together some velvety thick Greek yogurt with a little mild honey, then some lemon zest and lemon juice. That’s easy, right? Pop *open* the pop *overs* and dollop the slightly sweet Greek yogurt creme. Then you gild the lily by spooning some sweet, fragrant strawberries folded into just a little strawberry jam.

I need a moment just luxuriate in that thought. (And to grab a spoon.)

Oh forget the spoon. They’re so last century, and I am clearly space age now. Just take a bite off of one of these…

…And pile in the goodies.

I’m all for progress, even if it means strawberry juice running down my arm. Maybe even especially if it means that. Pardon me, I’m off to go look at things…

Whole Wheat Popovers with Greek Yogurt Creme and Strawberries

Perfect whole-wheat popovers are not a myth! The finished simple, textbook pouffy popovers are honest-to-goodness whole wheat and are filled with a slightly sweet Greek yogurt creme made with honey and lemon. To gild the lily, we spoon sweet strawberries folded into a little strawberry jam over the whole thing. This beautiful and delicious dessert has the added bonus of being healthy! (Pssst. There's no reason to confine this gorgeous dish to desserts. Serve these as an eye and stomach pleasing brunch offering!)

Ingredients

For the Popovers:

3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (preferably whole)
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces, by weight) white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (2 1/8 ounces, by weight) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
solid vegetable shortening or non-stick cooking spray for the muffin pan

For the Greek Yogurt Creme:

2 cups Greek yogurt
2-3 tablespoons mild honey (clover, orange blossom, etc...)
the zest of one lemon (just the yellow part, not the white pith)
the juice of half of one lemon

For the Berries:

2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled (or frozen whole strawberries, thawed)
1/2 cup strawberry jam ( preferably this Strawberry Freezer Jam)

Instructions

To Make the Popovers:

Add all of the popover ingredients to the work carafe of a blender in the order listed. Blitz on high for 15 seconds. Stop the blender, remove the lid to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula or scraper, replace the lid, then blitz on high for another 15 seconds, or until perfectly smooth. Put the blender carafe in the refrigerator to rest while preheating the oven to 450°F. It should take at least 15 minutes to preheat your oven, but if it doesn't, let the popover batter continue resting for a minimum of 15 minutes.

While the batter is resting and the oven is preheating, turn your attention to a 12-cup muffin pan. Use a paper towel to generously grease the wells and the top of the muffin pan. Be sure to grease the entire upper surface of the pan. Popovers have a tendency to spread while they puff upward and it's a sad, sad thing to lose a popover because you can't get it out of the pan.

When the oven has reached 450°F, divide the popover batter between the muffin cups evenly. This should fill them approximately 2/3 full. Carefully slide the pan into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Lower the heat of the oven to 350°F and continue baking for 10 minutes more. Do not open that oven door at any point before the full baking time is complete. You will cry a thousand salty tears of regret.

After the full baking time is done, remove the pan from the oven, let the popovers rest in the pan for 5 minutes, then gently turn them out onto a cooling rack. These taste best when served still warm, but are still delicious at room temperature.

To Prepare the Greek Yogurt Creme:

Whisk together all of the ingredients for the creme until smooth. Refrigerate until you are ready to use.

To Prepare the Berry Topping:

Gently break up the strawberry jam with a fork in a medium sized mixing bowl. Fold in the strawberries.

To Assemble the Dessert:

Slice or gently pull a popover in half. Dollop a generous amount of the Greek Yogurt Creme on the bottom half, position the top half over it and spoon the strawberry topping over the whole thing. Serve immediately!

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/04/27/whole-wheat-popovers-with-greek-yogurt-creme-and-strawberries/

Recipe printed from Foodie With Family | Rebecca Lindamood http://www.foodiewithfamily.com

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Comfort Food, Comfort Food, Desserts, Happy Healthy and Wise, Healthy Foods, Holiday Food, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: Breakfast, budget friendly, dessert, family-friendly, kid friendly, party food, quick and easy, Vegetarian

Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Layer Cake with Ganache

November 28, 2011 by Rebecca 11 Comments

It’s birthday season around here, as I may have already mentioned once (or twice)… With the exception of the one child who requested shepherd’s pie for his birthday dessert until I informed him he could have it for dinner AND have a proper cake or pie, everyone has asked for something spectacular. Last week was no different, but the pressure was amped up a bit. My eldest and youngest were born on the same day, eight years apart. Birthday feasts and desserts take on a special level of crazy when two people are egging each other on in the brainstorming process.

Mercifully, the eldest wanted fried chicken and the youngest wanted fried chicken nuggets. (Bless you child. Your nuggets were boneless, skinless chicken thighs dredged in the same coating as your elder brother’s fried chicken. And it was good.) The youngest deigned to allow the eldest to have a fruit salad even though, as he has repeatedly informed us he does not “wike fwoot.” And then came the negotiations on the cake.

Cake, for crying out loud.

How complicated does it need to be*? The answer to that, evidently, is extremely complicated. Eldest wanted a vanilla cake with strawberry layers. Youngest, again, informed us he doesn’t “wike fwoot”. Youngest wanted chocolate. Eldest didn’t want plain chocolate. Eldest suggested combining chocolate and mint. Youngest now decided he didn’t “wike mint”. Eldest suggested I make two cakes. Youngest agreed. And then one of them, can’t quite remember which since my head was spinning on its axis, said, “Why don’t you just make a huge chocolate and vanilla swirl cake? Then you can put ganache** over the whole thing!”

*This is a question I should be past asking considering one year they wanted a realistically shaped/decorated globe cake, another year someone wanted a 3-D Tardis, and so on and so forth. But I am an optimist. Some day someone will ask me for a sheet cake with nothing on it. Then I’ll probably cry.

**Because my children do say things like, “Put ganache over the whole thing!” I suppose this means I’ve spoiled them.

Phew. It’s the lead-up to the cake request that stresses me out the most. Swirls I can do. Swirls I have done. But my previous swirly cakes were a bit more on the dry side (intentionally) since they were to be layered with ice cream. This cake was to be a moist, stand-alone (if you count being smothered with ganache as standing alone) birthday beauty. Enter butter… and quite a bit of it.

Let’s talk about ganache just for a moment. If you’re not familiar with it I’ll break it down for you. Ganache is equal parts heavy cream and chocolate, melted together and gently stirred until it magically turns into a thick, glossy, chocolate spread. And oh, what a chocolate spread. When refrigerated, it is thick enough to roll into balls to nibble, drop into hot milk for hot chocolate, or coat with cocoa powder or chopped nuts or more melted chocolate for homemade truffles, or, or, or… to frost or sandwich between cookies, or CAKES.

So, to recap, we have a big layer cake made with lots of butter covered with dark chocolate and heavy cream. Very diet friendly. But diets have no place in a home with five sons. This is my justification and I’m sticking with it. Would anyone else like to join me here on Delusional Island? We have cake. And ganache.

Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Layer Cake

Birthdays (or any occasions, for that matter) get a delicious boost when you serve this moist Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Layer Cake frosted with dark chocolate ganache.

Ingredients

For the Cake:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons, separated
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
1 3/4 cups fine or superfine sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups whole milk, warmed to room temperature plus 4 tablespoons, separated
2 level tablespoons dark cocoa powder

For the ganache:

16 ounces (2 cups) heavy cream
16 ounces chopped dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate

Optional for garnish:

Melted white chocolate for drizzling

Instructions

To Bake the Cake:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Butter and flour two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale in colour.

Beat the eggs in one at a time, fully incorporating each egg and scraping down the bowl between each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

Add about 1/3 of the milk, beat to incorporate, then 1/3 of the flour, again beating to incorporate.

Repeat this process, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until all of the milk and flour are added and mixed in evenly.

Divide the batter equally between two mixing bowls. In one, add 2 tablespoons of milk and the additional 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour. Whisk until smooth.

In the other bowl, whisk in the cocoa powder and remaining 2 tablespoons of milk until smooth.

To create the swirls, scoop 1/3 of a cup of the white batter into the center of each prepared pan. Follow this with 1/3 of a cup of the chocolate batter directly into the center of the white batter in each pan. Repeat the process -white batter, chocolate batter, white batter, chocolate batter- each time, pouring the batter directly into the center of the contrasting batter. This will form concentric circles (and when baked, the stripey swirls) of contrasting colour. Repeat until you run out of batter.

Bake, rotating midway through, for about 35 minutes or until the cake tests done.

Let the cakes cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes before turning out onto the racks to finish cooling.

To Make the Ganache:

Heat heavy cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan just until it is about to boil. Pour immediately over the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and let stand undisturbed for 5 minutes. Using a wire whisk, gently stir in one direction until the ganache becomes glossy and evenly dark. Let stand at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until thick.

To Assemble and Frost the Cake:

Level out your completely, 100% cooled cakes and cut each into two even layers.

Place one layer on a cake plate then add a layer of ganache, spreading to the edges and evening out as you go. Repeat with the remaining layers.

Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining ganache. If you have uneven areas, you can put the cake into the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so, then use ganache to fill in the spaces.

If desired, drizzle melted white chocolate over the top of the cake to garnish.

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour before slicing.

Store leftovers tightly covered in the refrigerator.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/11/28/chocolate-vanilla-swirl-layer-cake-with-ganache/

Recipe printed from Foodie With Family | Rebecca Lindamood http://www.foodiewithfamily.com

Happy Birthday to my sweet bookends.

My Chocolate and my Vanilla…

Am I the luckiest mom in the world or what?

Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts, Holiday Food, Instructional, kid food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: birthday cake, cake, chocolate, kid friendly, party food, Vegetarian

Fromage Fort (Cheese Spread)

November 23, 2011 by Rebecca 6 Comments

We interrupt these Thanksgiving preparations to bring you a Public Service Announcement. This is only an announcement. This post will take less than five minutes to read and less than five minutes to prepare. You may then return to cooking for your feast:

Did you get invited to a last minute shindig? Do you need just-one-more-thing to round out your holiday feasts? Do you love cheese?

That last question is the most important really, because this is a recipe for cheese lovers. Serious cheese lovers only. Because this is how you use up the odds-and-ends in your cheese collection. You do have a cheese collection, right? A nub of Romano, a hunk of Cheddar, a couple tablespoons of crumbled bleu, some Asiago pieces rattling around in a bag or a drawer or a container in your refrigerator…

Well, the French ride to the rescue here, with the classic Fromage Fort. Fromage fort translates as “strong cheese” and believe you me, there’s nothing wussy about it. It is CHEESE writ large. It is a cheese spread from the country that many people find synonymous with cheese.

So what is Fromage Fort like? (Look away, my French friends. You may be horrified at this description.) It’s kind of like good ole American pimiento cheese, but minus the pimientos and plus wine. How could you possibly go wrong?*

*Let me tell you how you could go wrong. You could use Velveeta or American cheese. If you do that? You’re totally on your own. Blech. Don’t misunderstand. There’s a time and a place for both of those, but neither of those belong here. Emphatically. Amen.

The only specialty item you’ll need is a food processor. That’s kind of non-negotiable here for the best texture. Other than that, the world is your Fromage Fort oyster. You can make this five minutes before running out the door or a week in advance. The longer it sits, the stronger it gets!

Serve with crackers or crusty bread or veggie platters or on baked potatoes or pretzels or… or… or… You get the idea!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Important Cheese Eating advice: When making Fromage Fort, try to steer away from using too much from the bleu cheese or really salty cheese families (Asiago, Romano, Parmesano). Let those be “accent” notes. Use a milder cheese (Cheddar, Jack, etc…) as the melody!

Fromage Fort (Cheese Spread)

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Fromage Fort (Cheese Spread)

Fromage Fort -French for strong cheese- is a classic recipe that uses up odds and ends in your cheese collection. This slightly garlicky cheese spread touched with a flavour of white wine makes a wonderful appetizer or addition to any cheese course when served with crackers, crusty bread or crudites.

Ingredients

1/2 pound of assorted cheeses (Cheddar, Asiago, Romano, Parmesan, Monterey Jack, Colby, Swiss, etc...)
1/4 cup of dry white wine (or more, depending on desired texture)
1/2 a large clove of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
Cracked black pepper to taste
Optional: Chopped herbs for garnish

Instructions

Grate cheeses and add to the bowl of a work processor fitted with a metal blade. Add remaining ingredients and fix lid onto the food processor. Process until you have a spreadable consistency. Check the texture. If you want it runnier, add a splash of white wine and process again. Scrape into a bowl or a ramekin. Cover tightly and refrigerate until ready to serve, up to a week.

If desired, garnish with chopped herbs.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/11/23/fromage-fort-cheese-spread/

Recipe printed from Foodie With Family | Rebecca Lindamood http://www.foodiewithfamily.com

Filed Under: Accessible Ethnic, Appetizers & Snacks, Comfort Food, Comfort Food, Getting Creative With Leftovers, Holiday Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Stretching your dollars, Vegetarian Tagged With: budget friendly, Christmas, Food gifts, Frugal Food, holiday food, kid friendly, party food, quick and easy, Thanksgiving, traditional food, Vegetarian

Baked Cider Pumpkin Doughnuts

October 6, 2011 by Rebecca 9 Comments

When I promise an all desserts week I mean it. Here’s installment #2!

There are foods that I will beat down the door and jump over an old lady to get. Doughnuts are not usually one of them. I don’t really have much of a sweet tooth (contrary to what you might think considering the number of dessert recipes I’ve posted) and so I spend my “sweet capital” very carefully. Doughnuts, in general, are too sweet, too gloppy, too much of everything. Just too too.

Every fall, though, I like to try an apple cider doughnut. The name is irresistible isn’t it? You say cider, I drool. And they’re usually okay. Often times they’re baked rather than fried and instead of a gloppy glaze, they have gone for a roll in a bowl of cinnamon sugar. I can manage one or two doughnut holes of the aforementioned variety before I have to back off. For me and doughnuts that equals indulgence.

My kids and husband, however, have never met a doughnut they didn’t inhale. My husband, in fact, calls them DARNITS. As in, “DARNIT! I ate another one!” And so, when I saw this the other day, I decided to try my hand at doughnut/darnit making. Using Food + Words’ recipe as a leaping off point, I leapt.

Being in possession of a great deal of apple molasses is a nice thing. It’s especially helpful when you decide you’re going to morph a pumpkin/beer doughnut recipe into a cider/pumpkin one. I wanted a hint of cider in the doughnuts but not enough to overpower the pumpkin. Can you think of two flavours that scream fall more than cider and pumpkin? I can’t.

I made dough. I rolled it. I cut it. I put it on pans. And then men (both of the little and mature variety) started trickling into the kitchen. “What are you OOOOOH! Mom’s making DOUGHNUTS!” “You’re making what? Oh. OH! When will they be done?” “Wow. Did we really clean that well?” (No. You didn’t. But you all are cute. Consider yourselves lucky.)

I baked. I dunked. I rolled in sugar. The doughnuts that is. I didn’t personally roll in the sugar although after doing a double batch of doughnuts I suppose it’s six of one/half dozen of another. Doughnut humour. Somebody stop me.

I snapped a couple pictures with a child or two hanging off of one leg, another one on my back and my husband and two eldest sons dancing from foot to foot in the background saying, “Is she done yet guys? How many pictures do you have to take?” I took three pictures then stepped away.

Locusts.

That’s what they brought to mind with the speed with which they descended on those doughnuts.

When they sat down for a breather, I hazarded a bite of a doughnut hole. They were good. No. They were great. They were light and just sweet enough. The pretty autumnal orange colour of the crumb delivered on pumpkin flavour with just a hint of apple cider. The nutty brown butter that held the crunchy cinnamon sugar to the outside was the perfect finishing touch. In short? It was a doughnut of which I could eat more than two. Darnit.

Some Important Cooking Notes:

This doughnut dough is very slack, very soft and very sticky. When first mixed up, it almost resembles a batter more than a dough. Be patient, allow the flour to hydrate as the dough rises. It should be workable after that first rise.
You will want to flour everything you work with very generously -counters, rolling pins, hands- don’t worry. Keep adding flour as you work with it.
You absolutely need parchment or a silpat on your baking sheet. There’s no getting around it! If you don’t use one or the other you’ll have a nasty clean up job ahead of you.
Use unsalted butter to make the browned butter. If you use salted butter, you’ll concentrate the salt in it and the doughnuts will definitely take on super salty as a finishing flavour.
These are best when served fresh and warm, but there’s not a thing wrong with storing them in an airtight container for about three days. And if they make it that long you know you’re not in my house.

Baked Cider Pumpkin Doughnuts

Yield: 12 large doughnuts and 30-40 doughnut holes (depending on size).

These doughnuts embody fall flavours with their beautiful spiced pumpkin orange crumb, hint of cider flavour and cinnamon sugar coating. Serve hot with cider or coffee for a seasonal treat.

Adapted from Food + Words

Ingredients

For the Brown Butter:

1/2 cup (1 stick/ 4 ounces by weight) unsalted butter

For the Doughnuts:

1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon boiled cider
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant dry yeast
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup bread flour

For the Cinnamon Sugar:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Begin by preparing the dough:

Warm milk to just above room temperature using the microwave or a saucepan. Pour into the work bowl of a stand mixer, gently stir in the boiled cider and the yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, use the batter attachment on your stand mixer to blend in the sugar, brown sugar, salt, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, egg yolks, and pumpkin puree. Mix on medium for at least 1 minute to be certain everything is evenly combined and smooth.

Turn off the mixer, switch to the dough hook, and add all of the flour at once. Start on low (to avoid the dreaded flour POOF) and gradually move up to medium high where it should stay for 4-6 minutes, or until you have a soft, sticky batter-like dough.

Butter a large mixing bowl or pan generously and scrape the dough into it. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size (about 1 hour at average room temperature.)

After an hour, line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment or silpats and set them aside.

Generously flour your work surface and your rolling pin. Turn the dough out onto the counter and dust the top with flour. Knead for no more than 1 minute to deflate the dough.

Roll it out to about 1/2-an-inch thickness and use a 3-inch diameter round cutter to cut large doughnuts and a 1/2-1-inch thickness round cutter to cut the hole from the center. (Or use the small cutter to do a gigantic batch of doughnut holes!) Carefully transfer the cut doughnuts to the lined sheets with about 2-inches of space between each doughnut (or 1 inch between doughnut holes.)

Re-roll the scraps and cut more doughnuts. Repeat until you've used all the dough.

Cover the baking sheets with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour. Take care not to let them rise too long or the yeast will exhaust its activity before it gets to the oven and you'll lose the light texture you're trying to get.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

To Make the Brown Butter

While the oven preheats, melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat, swirling it to keep it from scorching. The butter will bubble and pop. As soon as the butter smells nutty and you can see lightly browned milk solids in the pan, remove the pan from a burner and set in a place to cool just slightly.

To Bake Doughnuts:

Bake the doughnuts in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Bake the doughnut holes in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until just golden.

To Assemble the Doughnuts:

Toss the granulated sugar and ground cinnamon together in a bowl. Set the cinnamon sugar next to the brown butter. Working with one doughnut at a time, dunk into the brown butter and flip to coat. Lift with a fork to allow the excess butter to drain away then drop into the cinnamon sugar. Toss to cover all surfaces with the cinnamon sugar, transfer to a plate, and repeat with the remaining doughnuts and doughnut holes.

Eat.

Darnit.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/10/06/baked-cider-pumpkin-doughnuts/

Recipe printed from Foodie With Family | Rebecca Lindamood http://www.foodiewithfamily.com

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Desserts, Holiday Food, kid food, Rebecca, Recipes, Snacks, Vegetarian

Garlic Hasselback Potatoes

March 10, 2011 by Rebecca 6 Comments

It’s time for the wearin o’ the spuds. ‘Tis the season to bust out your best potato recipes and act like you have deep Irish tuber roots for a week or two. Step away from the green food coloring. Do something really Irish and turn out a hearty, lovely, soul-soothing meal. Read a little poetry*. Knock back a stout.

*Scroll down below the recipe for one of the most heart-wrenching love poems ever written, courtesy of William Butler Yeats, Irish poet extraordinaire.

Listen to some foot-stomping, dance inducing music and kick up your heels with the ones you love the best. Irish music is good like that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hk13Dn7ePY[/youtube]

Hasselback potatoes are one of the easiest ways to impress the tar out of anyone sitting at your dinner table, including yourself. Sliced to resemble an accordion, they are a hybrid of the best traits of roasted and baked potatoes. The fan-like presentation allows the top and bottom of the potato to become crisp and golden while the interior remains tender and creamy. It ends up looking frilly and terribly difficult and tasting like you slaved over it, but you’ll know better.

Although the original Hasselback potatoes were prepared peeled and coated with breadcrumbs, I prefer mine more natural with the skins left in place. I also tuck thin slices of garlic to roast and mellow between the ‘fans’ of the potato.

These potatoes will make your corned beef look like the supporting player on St. Patrick’s Day. Sure, Hasselback Potatoes are Swedish, but don’t worry about an international incident. On March 17th, the whole world is Irish. It’s all good. Slàinte mhor!

Click here for a printer friendly, photo free version of this recipe.

Garlic Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients:

Desired number of potatoes, scrubbed (Russets or Yukon Golds, depending on preference)
Garlic cloves –numbering the same as your potatoes- peeled and thinly sliced
Butter, 1 tablespoon per potato
Olive oil, for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Optional:

grated cheese, such as Cheddar, Monterey Jack or Colby
minced fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 425°F. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil over the bottom of a rimmed baking dish large enough to hold your potatoes comfortably with a little room for the potatoes to fan out as they cook.

Place a new, unsharpened pencil (or wooden spoon handle or dowel) on either side of a potato, lengthwise. Starting at one end, slice down until the knife reaches the pencils. Repeat the slices at 1/8-to-1/4 inch intervals until you reach the other end of the potato. Tuck the thin pieces of garlic into the potato “fans” about every third slice or so. Break the butter into pieces and dot the top of each potato with about 1 tablespoon. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle about 1 teaspoon of olive oil over each potato.

Pop the baking dish into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes to 1 hour, or until the potatoes are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle with desired optional toppings.

“Had I the heaven’s embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”

William Butler Yeats

Garlic Hasselback Potatoes

Author: Rebecca Lindamood

Recipe type: Side, Vegetable

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

Serves: 4 or more

These are the ultimate cross between roasted and baked potatoes. Slicing accordion style keeps the tops and bottoms crisp and the insides creamy and tender. Butter and garlic takes it to a new level!

Ingredients

Ingredients:
Desired number of potatoes, scrubbed (Russets or Yukon Golds, depending on preference)
Garlic cloves –numbering the same as your potatoes- peeled and thinly sliced
Butter, 1 tablespoon per potato
Olive oil, for drizzling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Optional:
grated cheese, such as Cheddar, Monterey Jack or Colby
minced fresh parsley

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°F. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil over the bottom of a rimmed baking dish large enough to hold your potatoes comfortably with a little room for the potatoes to fan out as they cook.
Place a new, unsharpened pencil (or wooden spoon handle or dowel) on either side of a potato, lengthwise. Starting at one end, slice down until the knife reaches the pencils. Repeat the slices at ⅛-to-1/4 inch intervals until you reach the other end of the potato. Tuck the thin pieces of garlic into the potato “fans” about every third slice or so. Break the butter into pieces and dot the top of each potato with about 1 tablespoon. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle about 1 teaspoon of olive oil over each potato.
Pop the baking dish into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes to 1 hour, or until the potatoes are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle with desired optional toppings.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Filed Under: Appetizers & Snacks, Holiday Food, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Potatoes, Recipes, Side Dishes Tagged With: budget friendly, Frugal Food, party food, Vegetarian

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

January 6, 2011 by Rebecca 61 Comments

[First published in November 2009]

I’ve received lovely notes from many of you inquiring after my absence here. First, let me thank you all for caring enough to ask. Second, let me explain why I’m reposting this.

My husband and I have visited his Aunt Patti in the Houston Heights area the last couple years just before Christmas. Patti welcomed us lavishly and generously, putting us and other family members in a bed and breakfast near her home, treating us to delicious meals, making us feel at home and loved and special beyond words. Aunt Patti’s sweet tooth is legendary.

This year, my sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law and various uncles and aunts, nieces and nephews made homemade meals for her (due to her MS, she was no longer able to cook for herself), dozens and dozens of cookies, cakes, chocolate toffee, breads, and anything else that we thought would sound good to her.

We brought silly Christmas ornaments to play ‘White Elephant’ and to decorate a small tree for her bedroom so she would laugh when she looked at it. And believe me, those ornaments were laughable.

We talked, we laughed, we ate. And we ate and ate and ate. And when it was time to go, we hugged. We talked about how we were already looking forward to seeing each other next Christmas. Aunt Patti said how much she had loved the hot-chocolate-on-a-stick I had mailed to her the previous year. I promised I would send a batch sometime shortly after the New Year. I meant it.

On January 3rd, we received a phone call from my husband’s brother that Aunt Patti’s house had burned to the ground and that both she and her caregiver, Lisa, were missing and presumed dead. I was sure he was wrong. I hoped he was wrong. He had to be wrong.

He was not.

In the last three days, both Aunt Patti’s and Lisa Sanders’ remains have been found. I can’t send another batch of Hot Chocolate on a Stick to Aunt Patti. And while that’s the least of the concerns, when you miss someone, the little things seem bigger. I had failed to deliver on a promise. So do me a favor, would you? Please make a batch of these. Eat them or -better yet- share them with someone else. Patti would’ve loved it.

In Loving Memory of Evelyn “Patti” Worthington and with eternal thanks to her caregiver Mary Elizabeth “Lisa” Sanders.

Now that I have the attention of the entire state of Minnesota, please allow me to expound.

This is one of the most clever ideas I’ve seen out of the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Circle lately. (And they’re no creative slouches over at King Arthur.) In the most recent e-newsletter* from their test kitchen they included a recipe for Cocoa Blocks.

*If you’d like to receive their free e-newsletter, you can click this link and look for the sign-up box in the lower right hand corner of the page.

Oh sweet merciful heavens. Cocoa blocks. Very utilitarian name, no? Nothing against my King Arthur folks, because I really do love them, but I think the name doesn’t do justice to these little beauties. I’ve renamed them. Henceforth, they shall be called Hot Chocolate On A Stick.

Hot Chocolate on a Stick is a creamy chocolate confection that is much like an ultra-rich fudge. You can, as the new title indicates, put these blocks of chocolatey goodness on sticks for ease in swirling it in hot milk or nibbling.

Or, if you’re a rebel (or not from the Midwest), you can simply leave the squares alone and stir them into your hot drinks. Or you can go another step, as I am wont to do, and skewer a marshmallow on top of the block of chocolate.

And since we’re playing with marshmallows already, why not make them homemade*? That opens up the possibilities of all kinds of decadent flavor combinations; mocha chocolate with cocoa marshmallows, orange chocolate with vanilla marshmallows, plain chocolate with raspberry marshmallows, or pure chocolate and vanilla marshmallows.

~~~ ~~~

*Last year Val posted a homemade marshmallow recipe in our Homemade Christmas Gifts series. (See that post here!) Homemade marshmallows, if you’ve never had them, are a completely different animal than those little round foam-like jobbies you get in bags at the grocery store. They’re ethereally light, sweet and endlessly customizable. Have a hankering for an orange flavored marshmallow without the nasty food coloring? It can be done. Want a mocha marshmallow? (Just try finding THAT at your local mega-mart.) It’s only moments away. You get my drift, right?

So if you combine luscious, velvety, rich fudge with light-as-air homemade marshmallows it should follow that what you’ve created is heavenly. And it is. Oh, it is! Not to put too fine a point on it, but having these in my kitchen was the only thing standing between me and a potential sale of my children to the gypsies early career apprenticeship commitment for my children. I hid in the bathroom with a ‘Hot Chocolate on a Stick’ and nibbled my irritation away.

I could’ve taken a cup of hot milk to the bathroom with me, but I was in a hurry, people. I needed the chocolate and I needed it fast. The kids, on the other hand, found the stash while I was hiding (and small price to pay for the peace it brought me) and stirred theirs into hot cups of milk. I hear tell that they enjoyed it immensely. The chocolate rings around their mouths bore out their testimony.

Kid tested. Mother approved.

~~~ ~~~

May I recommend that you whip up a batch or two or three of these? Keep one batch for yourself. Wrap one batch in plastic and pretty ribbons for gift-giving. And that last batch? Well, give it away one at a time to your kids’ teachers, bus drivers, your preacher, the mail carrier, the elderly man or woman down the road who lost their spouse this year, the gal in the apartment two doors down who looks a little lonely, or anyone else who looks like they could use a good dose of seasonal cheer.

First, a marshmallow refresher!

Homemade Marshmallows

This is mainly Val’s recipe, but I’ve added a few of my own notes.

Follow this link for the original post and a printable version of this recipe.

Ingredients:

.75-oz unflavored gelatin (3 envelopes of Knox gelatin)
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or other flavor extract)
Confectioners’ sugar

Line 9 x 9-inch or 8 x 8-inch pan with plastic wrap and lightly oil it using your fingers or non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water. Soak for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a rapid boil. As soon as it is boiling, set the timer and allow to boil hard for 1 minute.

Carefully pour the boiling syrup into soaked gelatin and turn on the mixer, using the whisk attachment, starting on low and moving up to high speed. Add the salt and beat for between 10 and 12 minutes, or until fluffy and mostly cooled to almost room temperature. After it reaches that stage, add in the extract and beat to incorporate.

Grease your hands and a rubber or silicone scraper with neutral oil and transfer marshmallow into the prepared pan. Use your greased hands to press the marshmallow into the pan evenly. Take another piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap and press lightly on top of the marshmallow, creating a seal. Let mixture sit for a few hours, or overnight, until cooled and firmly set.

Sprinkle a cutting surface very generously with confectioner’s sugar.

Remove marshmallow from pan and lay on top of the sugar.

Dust the top generously with sugar as well.

Use a large, sharp knife to cut into squares.

Separate pieces and toss to coat all surfaces with the sugar.
Store in an airtight container.

Now for the Hot Chocolate on a Stick!

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

Ingredients:

½ cup heavy cream
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (1 1/4 cups)
3 cups semisweet chocolate (3 cups chopped chocolate bars or chips)
3/4 cup unsweetened baking chocolate (4 ounces)
wooden sticks, lollipop sticks, candy canes or bamboo skewers
optional, crushed candy canes, marshmallows and/or cocoa powder

Line an 8 x 8-inch pan or a 9 x 9-inch pan with foil and set aside.

Combine the cream and sweetened condensed milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Heat until it is steaming, but not boiling, stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.

Add all of the chocolate and remove from the heat. Allow the chocolate to melt, undisturbed, for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, whisk firmly until it is thick and shiny. You can add a few drops of flavoring extract or oil at this point, or add some powdered espresso or vanilla. Whisk vigorously again to incorporate the flavoring (if used.)

Use a rubber or silicone spatula to spread the mixture out evenly in your prepared, foil-lined pan.

Allow to cool at room temperature 12 hours or overnight so that it firms slowly.

Take the fudge from the pan and remove the foil. Place on a cutting board.

Using a knife heated with hot water and wiped dry, cut the fudge into 36 equal-sized cubes. You can either stick a lollipop stick (or candy cane) into the center of each block or leave as is. Additionally, you can press the cut sides of the fudge into crushed candy canes, roll them in cocoa powder or top with marshmallows.

Eat immediately or wrap tightly and store at room temperature.

If you make more than one batch and use different flavorings for the marshmallows or chocolate, you can use different colored ribbons to indicate the flavors. Silver for mocha chocolate and vanilla marshmallows, gold for plain chocolate and raspberry marshmallows, for instance…

Hey… Someone’s snuck off with my raspberry marshmallow Hot Chocolate on a Stick…

Oh well, I’ll make more.

Remember, it’s Christmas time!

Hot Chocolate on a Stick

Author: Rebecca Lindamood Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Recipe type: dessert, candy

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 36

This creamy chocolate fudge confection can be nibbled in its pure form, skewered on a stick alone or with homemade marshmallows and simply eaten or swirled into hot milk for a hot chocolate that is second to none.

Ingredients

½ cup heavy cream
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk (1¼ cups)
3 cups semisweet chocolate (3 cups chopped chocolate bars or chips)
¾ cup unsweetened baking chocolate (4 ounces)
wooden sticks, lollipop sticks, candy canes or bamboo skewers
optional, crushed candy canes, marshmallows and/or cocoa powder

Instructions

Line an 8 x 8-inch pan or a 9 x 9-inch pan with foil and set aside.
Combine the cream and sweetened condensed milk in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Heat until it is steaming, but not boiling, stirring occasionally to keep from scorching.
Add all of the chocolate and remove from the heat. Allow the chocolate to melt, undisturbed, for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, whisk firmly until it is thick and shiny. You can add a few drops of flavoring extract or oil at this point, or add some powdered espresso or vanilla. Whisk vigorously again to incorporate the flavoring (if used.)
Use a rubber or silicone spatula to spread the mixture out evenly in your prepared, foil-lined pan. Allow to cool at room temperature 12 hours or overnight so that it firms slowly.
Take the fudge from the pan and remove the foil. Place on a cutting board.
Using a knife heated with hot water and wiped dry, cut the fudge into 36 equal-sized cubes. You can either stick a lollipop stick (or candy cane) into the center of each block or leave as is. Additionally, you can press the cut sides of the fudge into crushed candy canes, roll them in cocoa powder or top with marshmallows.
Wrap tightly and store at room temperature.

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Filed Under: Beverages, Desserts, Gifts, Holiday Food, Instructional, Kitchen Techniques and Hints, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: Food gifts, food on a stick, homemade gifts, hot cocoa

Grandma’s Famous Cornbread Stuffing

November 17, 2010 by Rebecca 9 Comments

…Kind of.

I call this Grandma’s Famous Cornbread Stuffing, but in reality this is my version of her recipe. It’s not precisely how my Grandma makes it, but it’s close. I’ve added fresh sage to the required powdered sage, sautéed the onions and garlic in a generous amount of butter instead of putting them into the stuffing raw, dropped in a few more dry bread cubes and made the beaten eggs mandatory. One thing is certain; this is the be all and end all of stuffings. This is what other stuffings long to be. This is the apotheosis of stuffing-hood. We’re talking about moist but crisp-on-top-and-around-the-edges sweet cornbread, herb-saturated, onion and celery laden dressing. In short, it’s pretty darned good*.

*This stuffing comes fully endorsed by my step-mom, Val, who helped me test this stuffing this afternoon. If you have an image of two very happy women sitting at a table with a pan full of hot cornbread stuffing and a couple forks you have it about right.

But there’s something else about this stuffing -or dressing, whichever term you prefer- that you need to remember. You cannot smell this without feeling like there are generations of Southern Grandmas cooking Thanksgiving dinner just for you. There is no way to taste it without feeling a big warm hug from my little sweet Grandma. And me. You’ve been warned.

Grandma’s Famous Cornbread Stuffing

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

Ingredients:

4 cups crumbled cornbread (For the love of the South, don’t use a super sweet cornbread here. Please. I prefer my Grandmother’s Buttermilk Cornbread recipe. You can read it here.)
3 cups dry bread cubes (Homemade bread is best. Any type will do, but herb-laden choices make stuffing that is particularly flavorful.)
3 1/2 cups chicken or turkey stock (Again, homemade is best, but a low-sodium store bought broth will be good, too.)
3 large eggs
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon minced fresh sage
1 teaspoon powdered sage
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
freshly ground pepper and kosher salt, to taste

Melt butter over medium-low heat in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan or skillet. Add celery and onion with a good pinch of salt and stir well. Cook gently, not allowing the celery and onion to color, until the vegetables are nearly translucent, about 6-10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Gently grease a 8″x8″ baking dish and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, use your hands to toss together the crumbled cornbread, dry bread cubes, minced fresh sage, powdered sage, and poultry seasoning. Toss in the softened celery and onion. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Crack the eggs into another mixing bowl and whisk until evenly colored. Add the chicken or turkey stock and whisk to combine. Pour the liquid mixture over the bread mixture and use a wooden spoon to gently toss it until everything is evenly moist. Scrape the contents into the prepared pan and slide the pan into the oven. Bake for 40 minutes in the pan or until the internal temperature of the stuffing is 160°.

*You can freeze this stuffing ahead of time. To do so, cool the stuffing on a rack until the pan is cool to the touch. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until it is cold through. Wrap the pan with foil and freeze. To reheat: Remove pan from the freezer at least 24 hours, but no more than 48 hours, before you plan to serve it. Remove the foil and plastic wrap, replace the foil, and reheat in a 350°F oven until the internal temperature reaches 160°F. Remove foil for about 10 minutes of baking if you wish the top to become crisp.

Grandma’s Famous Cornbread Stuffing

Author: Rebecca Lindamood

Recipe type: Side

Prep time: 25 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 25 mins

Serves: 8

Crunchy on top and moist throughout, this is the cornbread stuffing I grew up eating and the one I will always turn to for special occasions. This is a true classic!

Ingredients

4 cups crumbled cornbread (For the love of the South, don’t use a super sweet cornbread here. Please.)
3 cups dry bread cubes (Homemade bread is best. Any type will do, but herb-laden choices make stuffing that is particularly flavorful.)
3½ cups chicken or turkey stock (Again, homemade is best, but a low-sodium store bought broth will be good, too.)
3 large eggs
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon minced fresh sage
1 teaspoon powdered sage
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
freshly ground pepper and kosher salt, to taste

Instructions

Melt butter over medium-low heat in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan or skillet. Add celery and onion with a good pinch of salt and stir well. Cook gently, not allowing the celery and onion to color, until the vegetables are nearly translucent, about 6-10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Gently grease a 8″x8″ baking dish and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, use your hands to toss together the crumbled cornbread, dry bread cubes, minced fresh sage, powdered sage, and poultry seasoning. Toss in the softened celery and onion. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Crack the eggs into another mixing bowl and whisk until evenly colored. Add the chicken or turkey stock and whisk to combine. Pour the liquid mixture over the bread mixture and use a wooden spoon to gently toss it until everything is evenly moist. Scrape the contents into the prepared pan and slide the pan into the oven. Bake for 40 minutes in the pan or until the internal temperature of the stuffing is 160°.

Notes

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe

Filed Under: Holiday Food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: Buttermilk Cornbread, Southern Cornbread, Thanksgiving

Spicy Cocktail Nuts and a Giveaway! (Updated)

November 3, 2010 by Rebecca 76 Comments

We have a winner! Connie… You were picked by the random number generator.

“Connie

November 5, 2010 at 11:38 am

I am surprised you are out of the competition. Your recipes are so delicious and extremely helpful. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.”

Contact me for instructions on how to redeem your prize! Congratulations!

Aw, nuts!

…Or so I said when I learned that my tenure in the Project Food Blog competition was done. After a brief spell of sitting on my bar stool at my counter indulging in self-pity, I came to three conclusions.

I was truly proud of each and every entry I submitted to the competition because each one represented my approach and attitude toward food.
I was kind of relieved. I had a pumpkin carving party to attend that night and that meant I could really have fun without worrying about a deadline.
I have the most loyal, kind, sweet, and hilarious readers ever created. The emails and messages of support left on the Foodie With Family fan page were and are much appreciated. And truth be told, you guys kind of choked me up a little bit. Thank you for all your support for me both during and after the competition. You are awesome.

Now, that being said, I thought the most appropriate way to say ‘thank you’ and express my opinion about being foisted from the competish was to make some nuts. As in aw, nuts. As in I’m nutty. As in I’m nuts for you guys. As in… let’s just make these nuts already, eh?

Spicy, sweet, salty, and totally addictive, these nuts will become an instant necessity in your holiday food arsenal. You will dream about these. Years ago (and we won’t say how many because I might be having an aging crisis), a friend brought these to an event that I organized at the office*. Let’s just say that these didn’t make it past my desk to the buffet table. They stayed with me. And my friend wasn’t allowed to pass the desk until he jotted down the recipe for me. Because I’m just that kind of person.

*The aforementioned event -my brainchild- was “PigFest” wherein we spent each Friday in November bringing in dishes to pass with the express aim of expanding our stomachs to better hold the bounty that would be lain before us at upcoming holiday events. Who ever said advertising people were impractical?

Let’s talk about these nuts for a moment. You can serve them warm (kept that way in a little slow-cooker) or room temperature; either way has its advantages. You can change out the seasonings used to spice them up. You can ratchet up or scale back on the heat. You can swap out walnuts, cashews, peanuts, Brazil nuts or whatever floats your boat for the almonds. You can pour a bunch of the cooled nuts into a clean canning jar, wrap some ribbon or rafia around it and give it as a fabulous hostess gift. But what you can’t do is skip making these.

Before we go any further, let me tell you about this giveaway. Aside from the nuts, it is another way of saying thank you for being here! The nice folks at CSN (and have you LOOKED at their sites? They have over 200 of them! It’s like my own personal candy store! That bar stool link above is to one of their sites.) have offered a $50 gift certificate just in time to stock up with the gear you need to turn out the best holiday meals you possibly can. Thank you, CSN! So the rules. First, I’m tired of contest rules so we’ll keep it simple.

Da Rules

Leave a comment.
That’s it. You’re entered.
If you really need more rules, perhaps you should make them up and leave them in the comment area.
I love you guys.
Really. Those are all the rules.
Oh geez, you slave drivers. Okay. One more thing. I’ll pick the winner at random on Saturday morning at an as-yet undetermined time. Because I told you, tired of the rules.

Now, we cook.

Aw, nuts.

Spicy Cocktail Nuts

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

Recipe by Emeril Lagasse

1 large egg white
1 teaspoon water
4 cups raw almonds (…or raw walnuts, pecans, or peanuts)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons Emeril’s Essence, recipe follows (or whichever spice blend you prefer…)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together egg white and water until frothy. Add the nuts and toss to coat. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, Essence, cayenne, and salt. Add to the nuts and stir to coat evenly. Spread the nuts on the prepared pan and bake until dry, about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir to separate. Let cool on the baking sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Essence (Emeril’s Creole Seasoning)

Recipe by Emeril Lagasse

2- 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container. Yield: about 2/3 cup

Spicy Cocktail Nuts and a Giveaway! (Updated)

Author: Rebecca Lindamood

Recipe type: Snack, Appetizer, Hors d’oeuvres

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

Serves: Lots

Addictive. That’s the only word to describe these spicy, sweet, crunchy, roasty-toasty cocktail nuts. Make with almonds, cashews, peanuts, walnuts… You choose!

Ingredients

1 large egg white
1 teaspoon water
4 cups raw almonds (…or raw walnuts, pecans, or peanuts)
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons Emeril’s Essence, recipe follows in notes (or whichever spice blend you prefer…)
½ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together egg white and water until frothy. Add the nuts and toss to coat. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, Essence, cayenne, and salt. Add to the nuts and stir to coat evenly. Spread the nuts on the prepared pan and bake until dry, about 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir to separate. Let cool on the baking sheet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

Essence (Emeril’s Creole Seasoning) Recipe by Emeril Lagasse * 2- ½ tablespoons paprika * 2 tablespoons salt * 2 tablespoons garlic powder * 1 tablespoon black pepper * 1 tablespoon onion powder * 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper * 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano * 1 tablespoon dried thyme Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container. Yield: about ⅔ cup

WordPress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe