Great New Recipe From a Great Site

I was in a hurry one day during the holiday madness to find a quick and easy dessert to make to share with co-workers at our annual Christmas Lunch and stumbled upon a site I had not been to before.  My Recipes is a great place to search for new dishes to try, and they have helped me plan several parties already in the few short weeks I have spent surfing their site.

There were quite a few amazing recipes to choose from for my party at work, but I finally settled on the recipe below.  Not only did this become my favorite new Christmas goody to make, but it makes a double batch, so you will have two tarts when you are done.  I froze one and used it a week later at a family gathering and got lots of compliments, in fact my sister-in-law was so anxious to have this recipe that she took the one I had used and couldn’t wait for me to email it later!  The other great thing about this recipe is that it is rich enough that you can cut it into very small fudge-like portions and make it go quite a long way.

Peppermint Brownie Tarts   

Ingredients

·         4  (1-ounce) unsweetened chocolate baking squares

·         1  cup  butter, softened

·         2  cups  sugar

·         4  large eggs

·         1  cup  all-purpose flour

·         1  teaspoon  vanilla extract

·         1  cup  semisweet chocolate morsels

·         1/2  cup  butter, softened

·         1  (16-ounce) package powdered sugar

·         1/3  cup  milk

·         1/4  teaspoon  peppermint oil

·         1  Chocolate Glaze

·         1/2  cup  crushed peppermint candy canes

Preparation

Microwave chocolate squares in a microwave-safe bowl at MEDIUM (50% power) 1 1/2 minutes, stirring at 30-second intervals until melted. Stir until smooth.

Beat 1 cup butter and 2 cups sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended.

Add flour, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla and chocolate morsels. Spread batter evenly into 2 greased and floured 9-inch tart pans with removable bottoms.

Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely on wire racks.

Beat 1/2 cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add powdered sugar alternately with milk, beating at low speed after each addition. Stir in peppermint oil.

Divide butter mixture between each tart, spreading evenly over cooled brownies in pans; cover and chill 1 hour or until firm. Divide Chocolate Glaze evenly between each tart, spreading over chilled butter mixture in pans. Sprinkle crushed peppermint candy around outer edge of each tart

Fantastically Fun Baking Site

I have been baking for weeks, and am elated and terribly sad today.  I found Fancy Flours today, a week AFTER Christmas!

I am somewhat new to really fancy baking sites, so perhaps this is already a very popular site, but I was blown away today by their inventory.  I found a Bundt pan on sale in the shape of a cathedral, which I simply can’t wait to use next Christmas (hmmm . . . wonder if I can use if for Easter dinner too).  I also found all kinds of cupcake paraphernalia and more cookie cutters than I have ever seen in one place before.  I think what really blew me away though was that they had these cool chocolate transfer sheets to turn ordinary treats into works of art.  

If you love to bake, and you haven’t been to this site, grab a drink and curl up somewhere comfortable so you can spend a while at this awesome website!

The Season Has Officially Begun

The official beginning of my family’s holiday season is always my DD’s band concert.  The concert was last night, and so now we can officially begin our decorating, planning, shopping and cooking.  I have been having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit of late, due to a nagging head cold that has had me in bed for the past few days, but I think we can get going now.  I felt terrible at the concert, and was very worried that my cough would disturb the other parents, but they seemed to understand, and I did keep my distance, to avoid contaminating anyone.  Doesn’t it seem like you have to cough the most when you really shouldn’t?  I was fine during the day yesterday, but as soon as I got to the concert my cough started up again.  Ah well, at least it was short and I had cough drops and tea with me.  I do thank God for tea and cough drops, where would we honestly be without them?!

The band played some classics, did a sing-a-long medly that was very nice, and ended it all with the traditional “Sleigh Ride.”  It was short, sweet and simple and was the perfect beginning to my holiday season!  Thanks DD!

Real or Fake?

My DH and I have been fighting over this question for years.  Should we get a real Christmas tree or settle for a fake one?

About 5 years ago, I gave in and agreed to try a fake tree for a while.  And for 5 years I said nothing as I spent an entire day pulling out the heavy box, taking out the hundreds of branches, put each branch in and then fanned it out for the perfect looking tree.  But this year, I said “Enough!”

I had visions of all four of us bundling up in our winter gear and heading out to a tree farm somewhere to cut down our own tree.  We made this plan, but come Saturday morning, all but me had pooped out.  They said it was too cold, and it was snowing, and it would take too long.  So, I got them to agree to breakfast and then a trip to Home Depot for a tree.  You know what?  We had a great time anyway, and we came home with stories, pictures, and a darn good looking tree.

I think the best part of the whole weekend was when DS came home yesterday and said “Oh wow, it smells like Christmas in here.”  My son, happy to come home and noticing that it smelled like Christmas?  That is it, I will never have a fake tree again!

Blessings on this Christmas

As I sit here thinking of this Christmas and of Christmas past, I am so very thankful for this time of reflection. Time to remember good times of the past and to anticipate future blessings. It has been a rough few months, but I know we will get through. And as I wish I had taken more time in the past few weeks to just sit an enjoy the season, I am reminded of the simple truth in this time of year.

I think Linus has it right, and all I want to do is enjoy this Christmas classic with those I hold dear and make memories that will bless me in years to come. I don’t want to forget to ponder the real reason for the season.

Blessings. . .

Cafe Thursday – Crescent Wreath

I can’t wait to try this adorable, yet quick and easy to make crescent wreath!  I just love the shortcuts from Pillsbury.

Ingredients

2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls

1 container pineapple cream cheese spread

1/3 cup chopped ham

1/4 cup yellow pepper, finely chopped

1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped

1/2 cup broccoli, finely chopped

1 Tablespoon red onion, finely chopped

6 cherry tomatoes, quartered

Directions

Heat oven to 375°F. Turn 10-oz custard cup upside down on center of ungreased large cookie sheet.
Remove dough from 1 can, keeping dough in 1 piece; do not unroll.
(Keep remaining can of dough in refrigerator.) Roll dough in one direction to make 12-inch log.
Cut log into 20 slices. Arrange 16 slices, slightly overlapping and in clockwise direction,
around custard cup on cookie sheet.

Repeat with second can of dough, cutting log into 20 slices. Arrange remaining 4 slices and slices
from second can (total of 24 slices) slightly overlapping each other and in counterclockwise
direction, close to but not overlapping first ring. Remove custard cup.

Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until light golden brown. Gently loosen wreath from cookie sheet;
carefully slide onto cooling rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Place wreath on serving tray or platter. Spread cream cheese spread over wreath. Sprinkle with
remaining ingredients. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate up to 4 hours before serving.

Merry Christmas

Dealing With Christmas Stress – Part 3

The last thing about Christmas that usually stresses me out is the thought of having to decorate the entire house.

Not this year.  I have listed a couple of tips below to make holiday decorating quick and easy.

1.  Add Christmas tree lights to mirrors and doorways.  I know, the sprigs of evergreen and lights looks so nice, but I find that a cheap set of multi-colored lights around a mirror or door frame can quickly decorate a small room (like the bathroom).

2.  Place baskets of ornaments on tables and countertops.  We all have baskets lying around, and most of us probably have old ornaments that we don’t  hang on the tree anymore.  Put them in a basket for an instant centerpiece.  Add some ribbon and you have a very nice new decoration.  If you want to do more, paint the basket to match the bulbs.

3.  Add handmade snowflakes to windows and mirrors.  My kids actually love to make snowflakes and tape them to the windows.  Here is a great site with some patterns to use.

4.  Another thing I do is decorate pillows with ribbon from past Christmas presents and wrap wall art and pictures like presents.

5.  All you need to complete this look is to decorate the tree with traditional ornaments, bows and lights.

Dealing With Christmas Stess – Part 2

 

As promised, today I will share one of my secrets for dealing with Christmas stress this year.  I am cheating.

That is right, the second thing I stress out about most years is all of the baking I have to do in order to take cookies everywhere I go.  I am not gonna slave in the kitchen for hours upon hours trying to make the perfect cookie this year!  I am going to start with some dough provided by good old Pillsbury, and go from there.

In fact, over at the Pillsbury site they have some pretty darn good looking recipes that I plan to use, as well as some of my own editing of their dough.  Why reinvent the wheel?  Most cookies consist of sugar, butter, flour, I think that is what is in the Pillsbury stuff . . . right?

And instead of making 30 different kinds of cookies, I am going to narrow in on a couple and do them really well.

What Have You Done For Your Teen?

I sit here this morning, typing in pain.

In order to bond with my daughter last night, I participated in an activity I really didn’t want to.  I got my nails done.  And do you think she would settle for mom getting a nice plain old manicure?  No!  I had to get these darn acrylic nails put on.  I got them as short as I could, but I am still having a tough time this morning.  It was all I could do to convince her that I just couldn’t possibly get a design too.

So, here I sit, a system administrator who can barely type, let alone be able to take a hard drive out of a computer.  They look great, but come on, they have no practical purpose at all.  I am just waiting for the ridicule from the guys here to start.

So, was it worth it?  Absolutely!  I am convinced that it is these small little memories and shared experiences that really matter.  We wont remember what color we got, or what salon we went to, but we perhaps now have a new Christmas tradition that we will share in years to come.

 What crazy things have you done to bond with your teen or parent?