Ile Flottante (or Floating Island)

By now you're onto my small obsession with all things French.  2011's trip to Paris might have stoked the flame but truly its been there for quite some time.  My first recollection of being smitten with la cuisine francaise was actually in middle school.  Living abroad in Saudi Arabia, our close friends were the closest thing to family therefore we spent many a holiday and holiday meal together.  Our friend Susan Elving made Coq au Vin one year for New Year's Eve and she made Ile Flottante or Floating Island the next year I believe it was for Christmas Eve.  I remember both meals very distinctly to this day and these French classic dishes remain a few of my favorites.  If you're not familiar with Floating Island, it is delicate, light as air meringue literally floating on a puddle of creme anglaise (or custard sauce) topped with caramel.  It is what I like to think of as "angel food" for a special occasion.

Susan brought the Floating Island dessert to our house. The meringue and custard were made ahead but my little sister and I got to watch her make a fantastic "web" of caramel.  Spoiler alert: I was not able to recreate the net of sugar this go round - I ended up with a soft caramel sauce instead- but I intend to attempt again pending some further research.  Susan cooked sugar down to a caramel (to thread stage I believe) that was then pulled into strands as thin as a spider's web and tangled together to form an avant garde kind of hat atop the meringues.  The sugar then hardened to crispy which added just a slight toasty crunch to the fluffy meringue and silky custard.   As you can imagine for two young, curious cooks in training, this was basically a yummy sugar laden art project and thus a big hit.

I looked at a few pictures online to give you a visual and this was similar to what I remember...

Amazing photo courtesy of http://www.latartinegourmande.com/

I studied a few recipes for the other components and landed on my dear friend Ina Garten's recipe.  My Mom and I made this dessert together on New Year's Eve and for the record, she is the.master of meringue.  I've been aspiring to make mile high meringue as she does on my cream pies for most of my adult hood... to no avail.  She tackled the meringues and I made the creme anglaise.  Note: The recipe serves 8-10 people.  It held up okay for left overs the next day as well.

Creme Anglaise:

4 extra-large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 3/4 cups scalded milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons Cognac
Seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean, optional

**Can be made a day or two ahead of serving
Beat the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, or until very thick. Reduce to low speed, and add the cornstarch.

With the mixer still on low, slowly pour the hot milk into the eggs. Pour the custard mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thickened. The custard will coat the spoon like heavy cream. Don't cook it above 180 degrees F or the eggs will scramble!

Pour the sauce through a fine strainer, add the vanilla extract, Cognac, and vanilla seeds, if using, and chill until ready to serve.


Meringue:   

8 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

**You want to make these the day of, especially for company, though a few hours ahead is fine.
Heat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium speed until frothy. Turn the mixer on high speed and add the remaining 1 cup of sugar. Beat until the egg whites are very stiff and glossy. Whisk in the remaining teaspoon of vanilla. With dessert spoons place 8-12 mounds  (depending on how big you want the servings to be) of meringue on the parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. 

**In studying some other recipes, I learned some people actually cook the meringue in molds.  You can make individual size or a single large meringue in various shapes.  One recipe actually bakes the meringue in a pan lined with caramel sauce almost like a flan.  Here are a few other ideas to consider:

Martha Stewart uses a Tube Pan as a mold
A fellow blogger bakes the meringue in a pan and then scoops out servings into a wine glass
Pipe the meringue for a more polished presentation

For the caramel sauce... as I mentioned, I went with a smooth, soft caramel sauce as is the most common approach.  We actually struggled with Ina's recommendation.  We attempted her caramel method twice unsuccessfully.  I eventually switched gears and the below method was just right.

Caramel Sauce:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 tablespoon butter

Measure the sugar into a dry sauce pan over medium heat.  Cook, swirling gently until the sugar starts to dissolve and turns golden brown.  This takes 4-5 minutes but don't leave it unattended because once it starts to turn to caramel, it goes quickly.  Remove the sugar from the heat and pour in the cream and vanilla.  (It will bubble like crazy and the sugar will seize up a bit.)  Whisk until the sugar dissolves completely.  Lastly, whisk in the butter which I think gives it a nice silkiness.  **This can also be done the day before- gently reheat when ready to serve.

To serve: place 1/3 cup or so of the creme anglaise in your dish of choice. Top with a meringue and drizzle with caramel sauce.  You can garnish with some candied almonds as Ina does though it really doesn't need anything else... 

I'm telling you the delicate meringue with the creamy custard and toasty caramel is to-die-for. Its like eating a fancy, delicious Parisian cloud.

Bon Appetit!

Butterfinger Truffles

While we're on the subject of Holiday sweet treats- I wanted to share a super simple recipe for homemade chocolate truffles.  These are extremely rich little nuggets of punch you in the tongue chocolate-ness.  Truffles are really quite easy to make but they look elegant and sophisticated- perfect to set out at a holiday cocktail party as I did or to wrap in festive packaging for hostess or office gifts.

I saw this recipe in the December issue of Bon Appetit and decided to give it a try because John is gaga for butterfingers...

10 ounces of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup of heavy cream

1 tablespoon of butter

1 1/2 cups chopped butterfinger candy bars (about 8 ounces)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

peanuts for garnish (optional)

I used semisweet chocolate- honestly I might consider using a portion of milk chocolate in here next time.  As is, they are for the darker chocolate lover for sure..

Place the chocolate (not the butterfinger yet) and the butter in a glass bowl.  Bring the cream to a gentle boil in a saucepan and then immediately pour over the chocolate.  Let sit one minute and then whisk until smooth.  Mix in the butterfingers, cover, and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to roll (ha, get it?!)  put the cocoa powder in a shallow bowl and line an airtight container with parchment paper.  I used a 3/4 inch ice cream/cookie scoop to portion the chocolate and rolled in into balls by hand.  I recommend spraying your hands with nonstick spray to prevent excess sticking. 

Roll the balls lightly in cocoa powder and place in the storage container.  Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

You could probably roll them in powdered sugar if you prefer a different look or sweeter flavor.  Bon Appetit suggested garnishing them with peanut halves or pecans which would be cute but I'm not quite sure how you'd made them stick??

What's not to love?!   The rich smooth chocolate ganache melts in your mouth yet you have a subtle peanutbuttery crunch factor as well.  Will definitely be making these again soon...

Cherry Pecan Shortbread Cookies

For seven years running- I look forward to an annual Christmas Cookie Exchange party with girlfriends.  This tradition started back in Charleston with a great group of women from my work.  When we moved to Kentucky - I decided to bring the tradition with me.  This year I had about 20 ladies and 100+ dozen cookies crowded in my dining room for sampling and swapping of our favorite holiday baked goodness.

I like to try a new recipe every year.  This year I went with a Martha Stewart classic shortbread recipe.  The simple recipe of essentially just butter, sugar and flour is fool proof and the combinations of flavors and mixins makes for an infinite number of variations.  I was also looking for a "no fuss" recipe as I was busy making appetizers and preparing to host- so the concept of having the dough waiting for me in the freezer- no rolling, scooping or shaping of dough required- was appealing.

I found some DELICIOUS dried Michigan tart cherries at Sam's club recently so I chopped some of those as well as some pecans to add to the mix.  I also dipped the ends in melted white chocolate to turn up the fancy a little bit.

Here is the basic recipe:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup dried cherries- chopped
8 oz good white or semi-sweet chocolate- chopped **don’t use chips, they don’t melt as well

1. Make the dough: In a mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar, almond and vanilla extracts, and salt until smooth. With mixer on low speed, add flour; mix just until a dough forms. Lastly, mix in pecans and cherries.

2. Freeze the dough: On a piece of waxed paper, form dough into a rectangular log, 12 inches long, 2 1/2 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. Wrap log in the paper, and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours (and up to 3 months.) If freezing longer than 1 day, wrap log again, in plastic wrap.

3. Bake the shortbread: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove dough from freezer. (If dough has been in freezer a long time and is frozen solid, let it sit at room temperature 20 minutes so it slices without crumbling.)

4. With a sharp knife, cut dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheet at least 1 inch apart. (Keep them as close to the same thickness as possible to ensure they all cook evenly.)  Bake until edges just BARELY begin to turn golden, 20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet; transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely.

Note: I doubled the recipe above to make two logs of dough.

I dare you not to eat at least one raw cookie while you're slicing.... yummy!

5. Dip in white chocolate: put the chopped chocolate in a glass bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each one, until melted and smooth. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Dip the ends of each cookie into the chocolate and place on the parchment. Let sit until the chocolate dries (put in the fridge to speed up the process). Store in an airtight container.

Crispy, crumbly buttery deliciousness, I tell you.  Studded with a little chewy tang from the cherries and a toasty richness from the pecans- these are anything but boring .  The white chocolate adds another layer of creamy sweetness without overpowering the taste of the cookie. 

My ONLY complaint is that I was hoping the cookies would maintain their rectangular shape.  The definitely spread a little bit in the oven so they were more oval shaped in the end.  Also- once they begin to turn golden, they brown fast so keep a close eye and rotate your pans half way through if your oven bakes unevenly like mine.

Other flavor combinations to try:
*Orange zest and chopped almonds
*Lemon zest and chopped pistachios
*Hazelnut shortbread sandwiched together with nutella or jam
*Plain vanilla shortbread dipped in your favorite dark chocolate

Lemon Glazed Gingerbread

Holiday baking season is here and the AS kitchen is a-bustle cooking up all kinds of Christmas cheer!  I have a huge backlog of posts for you so check back soon.  A women's group here in Lexington hosts an annual Christmas bake sale for a local charity and this year I made my mother's gingerbread recipe - a long standing favorite around the Holidays.  It is always perfectly moist with all of the soul-warming spicy gingerbread flavors.  Typically a bundt cake- she serves it as a plated dessert with a warm lemon sauce but to make it more bake-sale friendly, I opted for an easy lemon glaze to give my loaf version of the cake a hit of lemony fresh flavor.

Recipe makes 1 bundt cake, two medium size loaves or three small loaves.

1 cup of sugar
1 cup molasses
1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground clove
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the sugar, molasses, butter and eggs.  (By hand, with a handmixer or standing mixer is fine.) 

Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the boiling water, to the sugar-egg mixture until combined.

Pour the batter into greased and floured pan(s).  Bake for 25/30/40 minutes (depending on pan size) until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before loosening the cakes with a knife around the edge to remove.

Lemon Glaze:
3 cups of powdered sugar
4-6 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Whisk the lemon juice into the sugar.  Start with 4 tablespoons and add more gradually until the icing is just loose enough to pour.  Place the cake(s) on a wire rack over a cookie sheet and spoon the icing over the cakes so that it runs off all sides.  Let the icing dry completely before wrapping with plastic wrap.

Packaging of course is everything if you are gifting goodies for the Holidays (or selling them at a bake sale.)  I wrapped each loaf first in plastic wrap so that the the extra plastic was at the bottom.  I then tied a piece of burlap ribbon and a few pieces of red raffia lengthwise around the loaf so that the raffia was on top of the burlap.  I then tied it all together in a bow on top.  I found adorable hand made holiday gift tags that I tied to each of them as well.

If you want to go the plated dessert route- here is the Warm Lemon Sauce Recipe:

4 teaspoons of cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 teaspoons of butter
1 teaspoon of lemon zest
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Combine cornstarch through the water in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Cover and cook 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, lemon zest and lemon juice. Serve warm. Can be made ahead and reheated before serving.  Spoon over the individual gingerbread slices once on the plate.

Claudia's Pecan Pie

Well it was an action packed Thanksgiving Holiday here in Kentucky this year!  The final headcount at our Windy Hill Farm Thanksgiving feast was 44 people which  means the AS kitchen has been cooking up a storm.  (Hence the lack of posting activity.) We had family from all sides and all over the country in town and there was spectacular food, drink and merriment shared by all.  My mother-in-law and I contributed the majority of the desserts this year- the spread ranging from her unbeatable Pecan Pie to my Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake to my grandmother's Apple Strudel.  (and lots more in between)  As we merged the Lacys with the Cobetto/Cunningham clan for the first ever holiday celebration- I thought I'd share a Lacy recipe that got rave reviews from the rest of the family.

Pecan Pie Filling:  makes 1 pie

1/2 cup of sugar

1 cup dark Karo corn syrup
1/2 stick of butter, melted

3 eggs

1/2 cup of chopped pecans

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and fill an unbaked 9 inch pie crust.  Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and set.

Pastry for Pies:  also Claudia's recipe

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (she likes Lily brand)

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
4-5 tablespoons of cold water

Mix salt with flour and cut in the shortening with a pastry blender.  Add the cold water one tablespoon at a time until dough forms a ball.  Roll out to fit pie pan. 

A few other great scenes from the day...



my parents' barn decked out for the party



carving one of six turkeys fried for the occaison




mid-feast with Johnboy, "the littles" and my cousins




a beautiful ending to the perfect Turkey Day



 photography courtesy of my extremely talented "boy little", Nate Lacy and my cousin Sarah

Molten Chocolate Cake

One of my all time favorite romantic desserts is molten chocolate cake. This recipe is super simple yet very impressive AND unlike a souffle, you can assemble it entirely in advance and then bake them off just before serving. These few ingredients are probably in your pantry/fridge at this very moment: 5 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped 10 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 large eggs 3 large egg yolks 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1/2 cup all purpose flour *This makes six individual molten chocolate cakes . Melt chocolate with the butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Set aside to cook while you whisk all of the eggs together in a large glass bowl. Measure the flour and sugar into two separate bowls.

Next, whisk the sugar into the eggs until well blended. Then add the chocolate/butter mixture, whisking until encorporated. Lastly, add the flour and stir well. The batter resembles brownie batter.

Portion the batter into six, buttered ramekins that hold at least 3/4 cup each. You can then cover and refrigerate for hours or even overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Bake the cakes on a cookie sheet for 12-13 minutes until the outer edges look puffed and cakelike but the centers are still sunken and darker in color.

Let the cakes cool for 5 minutes. Then run a knife around the edges, cover with a dessert plate and holding the plate to the ramekin (using a towel if still warm) invert to drop the cake out onto the plate.

Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar, a dollup of freshly whipped cream, or as we did, a scoop of good quality vanilla ice cream with a few sliced berries.

I promise you happy bellies and clean plates! Check out the chocolaty oozy center below...

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Everybody loves cupcakes. And you certainly don't need a special occaison to indulge however these red velvet beauties with a rich cream cheese icing are the perfect Valentine's day/week treat. The recipe is from my Martha Stewart Cupcake book and I have to say it is the very best I've ever had. The cake is incredibly moist and tender and perfect. The recipe as its published makes two dozen cupcakes however I've halved it below to make just one dozen. Actually I ended up with just 11 cupcakes which was plenty for me and my Valentine to share this week. Ingredients: 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour 1 packed tablespoon of cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt 3/4 cup of sugar 3/4 cup of vegetable oil 1 large egg at room temperature 1 tablespoon of red food coloring 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract 1/2 cup buttermilk 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners. I found festive white liners with red dots at Michael's. (Martha Stewart's line.) Whisk together flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl. Beat the oil and sugar in a standing mixer (or with a hand mixer) on medium high speed until well combined, about three minutes. Add the egg and beat well. Mix in the food coloring and the extracts. Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk- scraping down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Mix until just combined. Mix the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will bubble up) and then mix it into the batter. Mix for 10 seconds until everything is incorporated. I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup coated in vegetable oil to portion the batter into the muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting. Cream Cheese Icing: I've posted this before and I'll toot my horn again in saying this is the best cream cheese icing you'll ever eat. 8 ounces of cream cheese, at room temperature 3/4 stick of butter, at room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste if you can find it 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract 3/4 lb (3/4 box) of confectioners sugar Beat the cream cheese and butter with a mixer (paddle attachment) until smooth and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl a couple of times. I'll say it a third time: its critical that these be at room temperature first. Add the extracts and sugar (sift the sugar in a bowl first to ensure no lumps) and beat well, scraping down the sides periodically. I tend to favor the "rustic" frosting method whereby I spoon a big dollup of frosting onto the cupcake and then use a butter knife to spread it evenly, leaving "homey" swirls in the icing. Frankly they are beautiful just like this... I'm not the most artistic cook in the kitchen however a little inspiration from the one and only Martha Stewart had even me creating a few fun and festive design ideas for you. For a more polished look, you can pipe the icing onto the cupcakes. starting at the outside, swirling inward will stack the icing per below. I then held the cupcake on an angle and poured some pink sparkle sugar on one sidee and white on the other for a temptingly sweet yet professional looking presentation.

Hug and kiss cupcakes are adorable as well. For these I used cinnamon candies to create x's and o's.

My favorite however was probably the simple "hand frosted" cupcakes with a little decorative sparkle sugar. Nothing says "be mine" like something that looks and tastes perfectly home made.

Store the cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.

Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Corn Bread

I borrowed this delicious Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Corn Bread recipe from Smittenkitchen.com -my go-to favorite cooking blog- and while I wanted to share it with you, I'll also direct you to her post for more insight and pictures. (I'm not sure what the etiquette would be for blogging about a blog either so I want to give credit where its due!)

I happen to love cornbread and all of the yummy twist and varieties you can create. You can make it white, yellow, savory, sweet or shape it into muffins, loafs, sticks or cakes. This version in particular was unlike any I'd seen before. I was picturing chunks of goat cheese but you actually blend it into the batter which gives it a nice tang. The savory flavors were delicious together and the bread was perfectly moist and fluffy in texture (with a little contrasting crunch from the corn.)

Ingredients: 1 cup cornmeal (I used yellow)

2 cups buttermilk 6 tablespoons of butter total

1 cup onion, medium dice

1 3/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 6 ounce log of goat cheese, at room temperature

2 sprigs of fresh thyme- leaves removed

2 tablespoons honey 1/4 cup granulated sugar 3 large eggs, at room temperature 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (I used frozen)

Recommendation: Set the goat cheese out at room temperature a few hours ahead. First, I combined the corn meal and buttermilk together in a bowl to soak while I prepared the rest. I sauteed the onions in two tablespoons of the butter and a small pinch of salt over medium heat until they were barely golden brown all over. Next I measured the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together in a bowl and mixed well with a whisk.

After that, I placed the softened goat cheese in the standing mixer and whipped it until it was light and smooth. I then added the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl each time.

Next in went 2 tablespoons of melted butter, the sugar, honey, thyme and the buttermilk/cornmeal mixture, mixing until well incorporated. Lastly, I gently mixed in the flour mixture before folding in the corn kernels. (I would cut back to a scant 2 cups of corn next time.) With the oven at 350 degrees, I placed the remaining two tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a 10 inch springform pan. (As SK.com mentions, you can use a round cake pan or square baking pan, whatever you have on hand.) I put the pan in the oven for 5 minutes to melt the butter and to heat the pan, ensuring a crunchy brown crust on the bread. I then poured the batter into the pan, sprinkled the top with the onions and baked for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center came out clean. I let the pan cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing the ring and cutting it into squares. It truly is best if you serve it right away or at the very least reheat before serving. (I especially like the crunchy edge pieces.) I took this to a pot luck and we had some left over with soup the next night. Will definitely use this as the base for my next cornbread creation!

Bourbon Ball and Orange Ball Cookies

Orange Ball Cookies are one of the Lacy's Christmas favorites and they instantly became one of mine when I tried them. The simple, no bake recipe is fantastic just as it is but the method is something with which I've had fun experimenting. My Bourbon Ball variation is the perfect holiday gift for friends- especially here in Bourbon country! Ingredients: 4 cups vanilla wafer crumbs 2 cups confectioners' sugar 2 cups finely chopped pecans (I substituted lightly toasted chopped hazelnuts for 1/2 cup) 1 stick of butter melted Orange Ball Variation: 1 small container (approximately 1/2 cup) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed Bourbon Ball Variation: 1/3- 1/2 cup decent quality Bourbon (I used Maker's Mark, my personal favorite). *Note: These have a pretty bold bourbon flavor to them. If you're not a big fan, you might go with another variation. Other Variation Ideas: Dark Rum, Kahlua/Espresso, half bourbon and half orange juice concentrate, Amaretto, etc. You could substitute hazelnuts, almonds, etc. for the pecans or substitute graham crackers or chocolate wafers for the vanilla wafers too. I use the food processor to chop the pecans and the cookies. You want to process the cookies into very fine crumbs- removing any large pieces. The pecans should also be fine per the below picture.

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix to form a dough. It should be moist enough to easily form into a ball. I use a small ice cream scoop to portion the dough so that the balls are all the same size- rolling them into balls in my hands. For the orange balls, roll the balls in additional confectioners' sugar and store in an airtight container in the fridge. For the bourbon balls, skip the sugar and let set up in the fridge for at least 4 hours before moving to the chocolate dipping step:

Melt approximately 1 1/2 cup of high quality chocolate in a double boiler (glass bowl siting atop a pan of simmering water) until smooth. I used Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips in this case. Coat the bourbon balls one at a time in the chocolate. I found that dropping it in and using a teaspoon to roll it around worked well. I then scooped it up and set it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper to cool (I put them in the fridge for an hour when finished). You'd probably want to store these in the fridge until serving as well.

(You'll see that I set them on a wire rack to cool/set. DO NOT DO THIS. Set directly on parchment to avoid losing chunks of chocolate from the bottom after the chocolate has hardened. =) I had to redip them after the fact to recoat the bottoms.)

I put the balls into little plastic treat bags tied with ribbon to give to friends/family. I bought a Holiday stamp and some red ink at Michael's and made little labels for each. Any variation of these scrumptious little morsels would be great to enjoy at home any time of year or as a tasty gift!

Sweet Potato and Cranberry Casserole

Happy Thanksgiving Week!! I thought it only appropriate to share my personal favorite Thanksgiving dish. This one has been passed down through my Mom's family over the years. I'm not sure where it came from originally. Its hard to chose a favorite on Thanksgiving, I truly do love them all, but if I had to pick just one item to accompany my turkey (always deep fried at our house), this would be it... Ingredients: 2 large cans plus 1 small can of yams- drained 2 cups of fresh cranberries 1/3 cup butter 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup oats 1 teaspoon cinnamon mini marshmallows (optional) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Struesel topping: In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, oats and cinnamon. Use a fork to cu the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a 1 1/2 quart buttered casserole dish, add sweet potato, cranberries (whole) and 1 cup of the struesel mixture and gently fold together. Sprinkle the remaining struesel over the top and bake for 40 minutes or so until warmed through. If you have a sweet tooth like me add a generous handful of mini marshmallows over the top for the last 10 minutes or so. They get toasty melty brown and add another layer of crunch as the dish cools. This dish is super simple to throw together and you can assemble it a day or two ahead if you like. The tart cranberries offset the sugary sweet yams and the warm cinnamon struesel makes it feel more like dessert than a dish. Enjoy!! Picture coming soon!

Holiday Sugar Cookies

John and I hosted an event for his department this weekend and I have a few great recipes to share. First up- my mother in law's Holiday Sugar Cookies. This versatile dough recipe is perfect for rolling and cutting into festive holiday shapes to be decorated with icings or sugars. I decided to make some fall inspired cookies for the kids that would attending Saturday. (Also, I thought the timing would be appropriate as we approach Christmas cookie season!)

The dough recipe is super simple:

1 cup of sugar

1 stick of butter at room temperature

1 egg

2 cups of self rising flour*

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

* I used all purpose flour. To make your own self rising flour, mix 2 cups of all purpose flour with 1 tablespoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Cream the room temperature butter and sugar together until light. Mix in the egg and extracts until well incorporated and then mix the flour. Shape the dough into a disc and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for at least two hours before rolling.

I rolled the dough on a lightly floured counter top to a 1/4 inch thickness. I used a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter to cut roughly a dozen cookies. I baked the first batch on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees until BARELY turning golden. I prefer the cookies to be a little chewy versus crisp.

(I went the icing route this time, if you prefer to use colored sugars, you'd decorate them before baking. You can also sprinkle some sugar over the wet icing for a glitter effect.)

I gathered the dough scraps together and re-rolled the dough. I then used a pairing knife to cut some free form fall leaves from the dough. I didn't have any other fall shaped cutters so I had to improvise. It actually worked out quite well to have mismatched leaf shapes of different sizes.

I ended up with roughly two dozen cookies total.

While the cookies cooled, I made an extremely simple icing from confectioner sugar, orange juice, and food coloring. I used some small mixing bowls and filled them about half way with sugar. I then added orange juice (you could use milk or lemon juice, whatever you like) a tiny drizzle at a time until the icing was a spreadable consistency.

I mixed a few different shades of orange, yellow, and red/brown for fall. (I also ended up with a beautiful pistachio green by mistake so I threw a couple of those in there too.) I used a spoon to scoop some icing onto each cookie and then the back of the spoon to spread it out to the edges.

I came up with a fun way to "vein" the leaves as well. I used a toothpick to pull some icing of a contrasting color down the middle and out to the sides of the leaves. I did the same to make the pumpkin stems look more realistic.

I let the icing dry for an hour or two before arranging on a platter and covering with plastic wrap until serving.

Halloween Treats (with a few fun Tricks)

I hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween! John and I had a few friends over Sunday night to celebrate.. We didn't have quite the trick or treator traffic for which we had hoped (not for lack of effort... a big thanks to Chris and Emily, aka Darth and Bubbles, for entertaining those that did find our house)- but we had a great time (and lots of candy) nonetheless. I made some casual, festive snacks for the occasion. I'll make a note to send these recipes 'round again next year when you're looking for ideas.

Pumpkin Shaped Cheese Ball recipe from Southern Living. My "pumpkin shaping" skills need a little work and I think my broccoli stem top was a bit too large, but my guests got the point. A great make-ahead start to a fall get together. I added a bit of garlic salt to the cheese mixture but otherwise followed the recipe as they published it.

"Pigs in a Coffin"/Mummified Pigs

A play on the classic Pillsbury Crescent Roll Dough Pigs in a Blanket, I was able to dress my piggies up for the occasion. I used one container of crescent roll dough and one package of Hillshire Farm Turkey Lil'Smokies. (You can buy the dough in one whole sheet nowadays. If you can't find it, roll the perforated dough out to a sheet and press the seams together to form a solid sheet.)

Using a pizza roller, I cut the dough horizontally into quarter inch strips. I then wrapped each strip around the sausage haphazardly, creating a mummy wrap effect. (Some people go as far as to create eyes with peppercorns or dots of mustard later on, but I didn't want to take the time.) I then baked them on a lightly greased cookie sheet for about 14 minutes at 400 degrees (until golden brown.) I served them warm with spicy mustard and ketchup on the side, toothpicks for dipping.

Chicken and Green Chili Empanadas A Tyler Florence recipe with a few time saving twists of my own. The ghoulish green tomatillo salsa on the side for dipping was also quite festive. I actually had two dozen of these already in the freezer which saved me time. When I make them, I like to double the recipe and freeze portions of it for a quick and easy appetizer later on.

Emeril's Two Bean Turkey Chili Nothing tastes better on a cool Halloween evening than a big pot of steamy, spicy (mildly) chili. I tried this recipe for the first time and it was absolutely delicious. (I decided the turkey/low fat avenue would leave us more room for candy but it was honestly hard to tell it was turkey seeing as it packs lots of flavor. I used one pound of turkey breast, two pounds of 93/7.) Also, I used half ancho and half chipolte chili powder in place of regular chili powder so it had a southwestern smokiness about it. I let guests serve themselves from the pot at their leisure, choosing from a few of my favorite toppings (sour cream, a mexican blend of shredded cheese, chopped cilantro, and corn chips.)

Martha Stewart- Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing I made these a couple of years ago and they are fantastic. Extremely moist and tender cake with all of the warm spiciness of pumpkin pie. I top them with my favorite cream cheese icing and a few decorative sprinkles. (I found these festive paper cupcake liners and cute pumpkin cut-out-toothpicks at Walmart.)

Lasty I was in search of a spooky beverage idea and decided on a quick and easy red wine sangria that resembled witches brew with the dark red color and chunks of "blood stained fruit."

You'll need one large or two smaller pitchers for this...

Sangria:

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced

1 orange, thinly sliced

2/3 of a container of strawberries, hulled and sliced

1 small container of blackberries, whole

3/4 cup of triple sec

1/4 cup of peach schnaaps

1/4 cup of Agave nectar (sugar will do if you don't have it)

2 bottle of red wine

I used two pitchers and divided everything in half between them. I gave it a thorough stir together and let it sit in the fridge for 2-3 hours before my guests arrived. I served it in stemless wine glasses over ice, spooning out some of the fruit in each glass. *Sorry no pictures, once we started pouring, I started slacking on my blogging duties...