Tag Archive for 'brown sugar'
I never made a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, and, really, I still don’t. My wife is just the same way. To us, it’s just a made up holiday, heavily marketed by Hallmark to make people feel guilty for being single. That doesn’t mean I don’t try to do something special for my wife; in fact, for our first Valentine’s Day, I made her a delicious dish of aromatic pistachio rice with apricot marinated chicken pieces. Usually, we’d rather opt for “just-us” time, over a candle-lit dinner in our own home.
So, this year should be no different, at least in terms of making something special. I’ve just really started getting into baking, and I’m learning more and more each recipe I try. In this formative phase, I usually just stick to a recipe as written. But, with a basic recipe as a foundation, it’s easy to come up with something unique and delicious. Inspired by the Valentine’s Day holiday, I came up with this delicious, pink cookie, reminiscent of Neapolitan’s cousin. Continue reading ‘Spumoni Cookies’
My wife has very German heritage. That doesn’t really mean anything when it comes to food, but we like to pretend it does. We had the opportunity to travel to Germany and Austria this summer and discovered that some of the food that we liked to eat on a regular basis was actually traditional Münchener Gaststätten fare 
What could I be talking about but Wurst mit Sauerkraut und Kartoffeln? I think that I had the absolute best sauerkraut ever when we were in Munich–very different from the sauerkraut that I’ve ever had (or made) here in the States–it was sweet, but not too, and complimented the Kleinewurst perfect. Paired with pillowy, cloud-like mashed potatoes, and we were in heaven! And, it was like a little taste of home.
We make variations of this at home all the time, so I thought I would share with you what I made the other night. It’s not terribly healthful, but I did lighten it up some with turkey smoked sausage, so remember that it could be worse!
Brown Sugar Pan Sausage
Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 8 ounce package of smoked turkey sausage, cut into 1 inch pieces and sliced on a bias
Procedure:
- Melt the butter in a medium skillet; add the onions.
- Cook the onions just until they begin to caramelize, stirring occasionally.
- Once the onions have caramelized, add the garlic and continue to stir.
- Add the brown sugar and the water.
- Add the sausage and cover the pan.
- Once the sausage has browned on one side, turn it over and allow it to brown on the other side.
- Serve warm, with your choice of side!
A taste of our German/Austrian trip, after the cut (warning, it’s picture heavy! AND, bonus points if you can translate my German–that, it’s not that hard, looking at the context): Continue reading ‘Deutsche Nacht!’
This recipe has been a favorite in my family for years and years. I think the source is an old Better Homes and Gardens or Woman’s Day magazine from around 1970. I’m going to another holiday party this evening and made this treat this morning. It takes nearly 3 hours from start to finish, but most of that time is rising and baking. Before everyone gets nervous about cooking with yeast, it’s not as hard as it sounds! The little buggers (quite literally) are hardy, so unless you make your yeast-bath really hot and kill them, you’ll be just fine.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 3 tablespoons shortening
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 3/4 cup scalded milk
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- 2 1/2 to 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 3-4cups chopped nuts (I have used peanuts, walnuts, and pecans–any nut will probably taste fine)
Directions:
- Combine the water, shortening, salt, sugar, and scalded milk.
Hal’s Hint: to scald milk, bring it just to a boil and remove it from the heat immediately. - Allow the liquid mixture to cool to lukewarm.
Hal’s Hint: to test the temperature, dip your finger into the liquid or flick some onto your wrist. If you can’t really feel the temperature or it feels slightly warm, it’s good to go. 
Stir the yeast into the mixture and let it sit for 10 minutes.- Measure 2 1/2 cups of flour into a mixing bowl and pour the yeast mixture into the flour.
- Stir until the dough forms a ball.
Hal’s Hint: the dough may be sticky at first–add more flour, about 3 tablespoons at a time, until the dough comes together into a ball. It’s much easier to add flour than it is to take it away
- Knead the dough about 20 times and cover.
Allow the dough to rise for 60 minutes in a warm place (I put the dough in the microwave–not on, of course!)
.- In the last 10 minutes of the first rise, melt the butter and combine the sugars, cinnamon, and nuts in a separate bowl.
- Tear pieces off the dough and roll them into strips about 1/2 inch in diameter and about 6 inches long.
Dip the strips in the melted butter and roll them in the sugar/nut mixture.
Coil the strips on a pan, making a round cake.- Sprinkle some of the remaining sugar/nut mixture over the cake and place back into the warm place.
- Allow the cake to rise again for another 60 minutes.
- 15 minutes before the cake has finished rising, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Bake the cake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
- Allow the cake to rest for 10 minutes. Ice with a mixture of 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1-2 teaspoons of milk, if desired.
My recipe notes that the dough making process can be shortened by using frozen sweet rolls. I’ve never done this, and don’t think it will cut out much of the time. Personally, I love the smell of yeast and rising bread, so I couldn’t imagine not making this totally from scratch.
I’m sure when you make this for your next family gathering, it will be a smash hit! It takes some time, but the end result is truly worth it. And, it’s an easy recipe that anyone can make, even the first time cook.
More pictures:
You have to admit, this is a stressful time of year. Sometimes, there’s only one way to unwind or take the edge off when dealing with dynamic personalities and unruly relatives. Personally, just give me a beer or a good quality bourbon on the rocks, and I’m happy. But, if you want to check out a few other ways to get hammered take the edge off, here are sites that tell you how to do that, with a Holiday twist:
There is a lot of information here, so hopefully you’ll be able to find something that everyone will be able to enjoy! Just in case, I’ll make it easy for you…
Hot Buttered Rum
Ingredients
-
6 cloves (whole)
-
1 1/2 oz. dark rum
-
1 generous tbsp. brown sugar
-
1 Cinnamon stick
-
Boiling water
-
butter
-
Grated nutmeg
-
Lemon peel
Directions
- Rinse a large mug with boiling water and add brown sugar, cinnamon stick, and a lemon peel studded with cloves.
- Pour in a little boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved.
- Add rum and fill with boiling water.
- Stir, then place pat of butter on top of drink, and sprinkle with grated nutmeg.
Peppermint Patty
Ingredients
-
2 ounces vodka
-
1 ounces peppermint schnapps
-
1/2 ounces white creme de cacao
Directions:
- Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice.
- Stir gently and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
- Makes one drink.
Do you have a favorite holiday cocktail? What’s your recipe?
The Well Fed network has recently posted an entry about persimmons and gives a recipe for persimmon salsa. I thought, in the spirit of the Holiday season, I’d go a little different and post about a sweet variation on the persimmon theme. Here is a recipe for persimmon pudding, which is very much like a smooth bread pudding. The taste is somewhere around pumpkin pie, but the taste of the persimmon is more prominent than the pumpkin in a pie.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups persimmon pulp
- 2 eggs
- 1 stick of butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients in two separate bowls.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, just incorporating them. Don’t overmix, or you’ll likely create gluten which will ruin the silky texture of the pudding.
- Add the mixture to a 13 by 9 baking pan and bake for 50 minutes, or until the mixture has a little wiggle, but spring back into place (like a custard).
- Allow to cool, and serve with whipped cream or this simple sauce:
Persimmon Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 1 3/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- dash of salt
Directions:
- Combine the ingredients in a medium saucepan.
- Bring just to a boil, then lower the head to medium-low.
- Cook until the sauce has thickened.
- Allow to cool slightly, then pour the sauce over the persimmon pudding.
- Allow the sauce to set, and serve (with whipped cream, even!)
I hope you enjoy! Happy Friday!
Erika, over a Kid Cuisine (part of the Well Fed Network–see the links section) just posted a recipe for Peanut Butter cookies which got me to thinking about my favorite Christmas cookies. I love sweets in the winter–there’s something particularly special about going to a friend’s or family member’s house and seeing the lavish spread of delicious sweets they’ve prepared (or had prepared) for you.
Apparently this is the norm in Scandinavian countries–my former boss told us a story yesterday about how her Norwegian mother-in-law would spend hours in the kitchen over the holidays. She’d spend this time preparing delectable goodies for those people who would frequent her home, and the spread would consist of several types of cookies and candy. Most contemporary folks now just stop by the bakery, because, as you can imagine, this is a time consuming process!
In the spirit of the holidays, I’m going to present to you a basic cookie dough recipe you can use for any kind of moderate sized, flat cookie. It’s basically a chocolate chip cookie dough, without the chips, and is easily customized.
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound of butter or shortening, softened
- 3/4 cup of granulated, white sugar
- 3/4 cup of brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 to 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- Up to 10 oz of your choice of fillings
Directions:
- Cream the butter/shortening and sugars in a large bowl.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract to combine
- Combine the dry ingredients separately, then add them slowly to the creamed butter/sugar mixture.
- Stir to combine, but don’t over work the dough.
- If you add less flour, your dough will be looser, meaning your cookies will spread out in the over. If you want firmer dough (and cookies with less diameter), add more flour.
- Stir in your mix-ins.
- Set the dough aside, in the refrigerator, to chill for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and scoop it on to a baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space between the cookies.
- Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just beginning to turn golden.
- Cool on racks for about 20 minutes, and they are ready to eat. Cool longer if you plan on packaging them, to eliminate condensation.
This is a really simple recipe, and you probably won’t break the bank to make these. I would advise using only shortening or butter, though–margarine just don’t taste the same. Same with vanilla–use only the real stuff. A little really does go a long way.
Some variations: double chocolate chip (add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder with the flour and chunked semi-sweet chocolate); Nutella chip (replace 1/4 cup of fat with 1/2 cup of Nutella spread and chunked simi-sweet chocolate; chopped hazelnuts optional).
What is your favorite holiday cookie recipe?
I love bourbon–it’s actually one of my favorite liquors. I’d love to style a restaurant with bourbon as the key ingredient. Keeping that in mind, I looked for a bourbon glaze that I could us with some pork chops we picked up from the grocery the other night. I found one here, that I modified slightly to fit my particular available ingredients.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup bourbon
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup onion, grated
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark–I used light; the recipe above called for dark)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/4 cup honey
- 4-6 boneless pork chops, trimmed and cut into about 1 inch cubes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- rice
- Combine the bourbon, garlic, onion, brown sugar, butter, and honey in a large bowl. Whisk together.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the pork to the skillet and allow to brown (Hal’s Hint: Take the meat out of the fridge at least 10 minutes before you put it in the pan. Once it’s in the pan, LEAVE THE MEAT ALONE! Let it hang out for about 5 minutes before you attempt to turn it. If you don’t, the meat might stick and tear or won’t brown as quickly).
- Add the bourbon glaze and allow to come to a boil.
- Stir until the glaze is reduced by about half.
- Serve with cooked rice.
(Hal’s Hint: I like to add spices to my rice to make it more aromatic. I added a stick of cinnamon and three small bay leaves to this batch of rice, making it a little sweeter and full of flavor. Remove these before serving.)
My thoughts: My wife really liked this. I thought it was a pretty good interpretation of a bourbon sauce dish you’d get at a Chinese-American restaurant, so I call this “Carryout at home.” However, it was too sweet for my tastes. My wife and I suspect this is because I used 1 cup of sweet stuff (1/4 cup of honey, plus 3/4 cup of brown sugar). I did this because I needed more liquid to carry the flavor of the bourbon and I didn’t want to grate another onion–I had grated one, plus the half of one from last night’s dinner. In hindsight, I probably could have done without, used water, or added something savory (like diluted soy sauce–1 tablespoon soy sauce to 3 tablespoons water).
Regardless, I thought it was tasty. It was just too sweet for me usually. I have another bourbon glaze I’d like to try, but it’s more like a barbecue sauce so I’ll need to wait until I have a brisket or some ribs. Plus, my wife doesn’t like barbecue sauce much, so I’ll need to a new guinea–I mean, taster :).
