Wordless Wednesday: After-school Snack

*inspired by the folks @ Family Fun

Santa in Ski Goggles & Nutcracker Mice

Baked all weekend, and am just ready for some R&R now. Will post recipes (including one for the perfect Madeline cookies) when I have time (which might not be this week, judging from the calendar).
Italian Cucidatti (filled fig-orange-cocoa) cookies, Rugelach, Chocolate Cherry cookies, Play Dough cookie cutouts, Light Chai Shortbread Slices, Nutcracker Mice and Santa, Coconut Macaroons, Snickers-filled Peanut Butter cookies, Play Dough shaped-trees cookies, Madeline cookies, and Oatmeal Coconut cookies. That's all for now.

Hooray for Snow Cream!!

Last year we never got the chance to make this, so today we got busy on making a batch right after lunch!

Vanilla Snow Cream

Freshly scooped snow from the backyard...

Snow Cream

1. Scoop up a big bowl of clean snow from your backyard, and bring it inside.
2. Take a cup of cream, half-and-half or whole milk, a couple Tbs. of sugar, 1 tsp (or so) of real vanilla (and 1/2 tsp of real peppermint extract if you have it). Mix it all up until the sugar dissolves.
3. Scoop snow into dessert bowls and pour "cream" on top!
4. Enjoy!! Delish! (Can also top with whipped cream and sprinkles or crushed candy canes for an over-the-top snow cream sundae!)
5. **I'm also tempted to try eggnog snow cream... doesn't that sound fabulous?!

Nutcracker Sweet

Every year since Madeline was two, we've gone to the Nutcracker in Seattle with Jamie, her sisters and nieces. It's amazing. Maurice Sendak sets, stellar music, magical dancing, beautiful costumes. The best. This year will be Mads' third time, and she's really excited. And, about a month ago I saw a great idea for "Nutcracker Sweets" in Parents Magazine. My favorite of the sweets was a Mouse King Cookie Pop (they put them on sticks, and being who I am, I actually have cookie sticks in my house). So... tonight, the kids enthusiastically dove in to helping with construction of these cookies. We made some regular cookies and some as "pops," and three with brown little mouse noses too.
We'll be sharing these with our buddies tomorrow! I used 1/2 the recipe for the play dough sugar cookie dough for these, and as the Parents Magazine did, we baked the crowns separately (tinted the dough for the crowns yellow), sprinkled them with yellow sugar, and attached them when decorating. You form the crowns freehand by cutting a 1x2-inch rectangle and then shaping a zigzag top with a paring knife—voila! A crown! Jelly Belly jellybeans are the noses, and melted chocolate candy melts acted as our "glue" and drawing medium! You can find cookie/candy sticks at most craft stores, or anywhere Wilton decorating supplies are sold.

Green Stuff

This is one of E's favorite green foods, and it's delish! I served it at his birthday, and have had a lot of requests for the recipe, so here it is!

Erik's Fave Spinach Souffle
(although this recipe came from Martha's Everyday Food magazine, I've changed it enough that I consider it Erik's recipe)
Cooking spray or butter (to grease casserole) and
About 1/4 c. bread crumbs
1 Tbs. butter
3 Tbs. flour
1.5 c. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 egg yolks
1 pkg frozen, chopped spinach (defrosted and drained - squeezed, really)
1 c. Parmesan cheese
4 egg whites
Pinch cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 400-degrees F. Melt butter in saucepan and add flour. Stir and cook about 3 minutes, then slowly add the milk, salt and pepper. Stir until smooth and add egg yolks (temper first by adding several tablespoons of hot milk mixture to the egg yolks, then add the warmed yolks to the pan). Cook about 3 more minutes, or until Bechemel (white) sauce is thickened. Remove from heat and stir in drained spinach and Parmesan. NOTE: to make this recipe more kid-friendly, I chop the chopped spinach very fine in my food processor for more incorporated "green" bits , and use the Paremesan in the green can (milder flavor), but I didn't do either of these things for Christmas dinner at my in-laws house, and it is fabulous without these steps, using fresh, grated Parmesan as well.

Whip the four egg whites with a pinch of Cream of Tartar in your Kitchenaid with whisk attachment until soft peaks form. While it's whipping, grease a 2-quart casserole and coat with bread crumbs. When whites are ready, stir 1/3 of them into the spinach mixture in the pan, then when incorporated, fold the spinach mixture into the rest of the whites.

Pour into the prepared pan, reduce the oven temp from 400 - to 350-degrees F, and pop into the oven immediately, to cook for about 30 minutes (until "set" and golden-brown on top).

Serve warm, cold or reheated! Even if this baby falls, it's still delish.

A Feast for Whistle Pig Day!

Because my friend Margo was coming over tonight, and she is a lover of all things Gaelic (especially Irish), I went with the more Gaelic menu for our first Lá Fhéile Bríde (St. Brigid's Day) Imbolc/Midwinter, (also Groundhog - or Whistle Pig - Day) celebration. I had both asparagus (which I simply roasted on a cookie sheet, drizzled with EVOO, seasoned with S&P at 450-degrees for about 10 mins), and strawberries (which we chopped, added a bit of sugar, vanilla, and a splash of fig-infused white balsamic vinegar to, and served with bakery angel food cake, and sweetened whipped cream - spiced with 1/4 tsp. Chinese Five Spice).
And, along with a bakery-bought deliciously crusty baguette, I served a brand-new made up recipe...

Jameson Irish Stew

1 medium shallot, diced
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
2 cups of baby carrots, chopped
7 (or more to taste) peeled and chopped yellow potatoes
1/2 tsp. sea salt and 1/4 -1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
All cooked in EVOO (2 Tbs) until onions are caramelized

De-glaze pan with one carton of beef broth, stir and add in one package of lamb stew meat (about 1 pound - yes, raw). Turn the heat up to boil, and add about 2 cups hot water. Simmer, uncovered, until potatoes and carrots are tender and lamb is cooked (and broth thickened)... about 45 mins to an hour... (honestly not sure since I was gabbing too much).

Add two shots of Jameson Irish Whiskey to finish, and let it bubble for about 5 minutes more to cook off a little of the whiskey. Unbelievably delicious!!

Feast of The Three Kings

Epiphany, Feast of The Three Kings, The Twelfth Day of Christmas... basically, today marks the event of Balthazar, Gaspar and Melchior (the Three Wise Men) visiting Baby Jesus in Bethlehem.

We barbecued tonight (even in the high winds) — chicken and pork with Finnish grill seasoning, roasted potatoes, tossed a rocket (arugula)/blueberry/almond salad with fig white-balsamic vinaigrette, and Ro brought a delicious chocolate King's Cake. No one found the pinto bean baked inside, so we'll have to wait to see on that one... It was a nice relaxing dinner with Shane (Jess is in London on business), and all the Luceros on a very blustery, cold evening.
No recipes, but we had a great Red Leicester aged cheddar, and an excellent "No Woman" Jamaican cheese (Jerk seasonings and caramel tones) from Beecher's Cheese of Pike Place Market fame, sun-dried tomato stuffed olives, Gorgonzola Crackers from Trader Joe's (YUM!!) on our appetizer plate — and, blood oranges! Yeah for delicious citrus!

Bûche de Noël - 2009

Here's what my Bûche de Noël would've looked like without the kids' decorating help, but Madeline pointed out that it needed more, so off we went with me teaching them how to make mushrooms out of mini marshmallows (there's a "Martha" Mama moment for ya!).

Anyway, last year and this year I used this recipe and it's excellent. I had chocolate peppermint candy canes this year (which Erik smashed in a Ziploc with a hammer) and I didn't have powdered sugar, so I used Baker's sugar (superfine) and it worked like a dream. Also used Scharffen Berger cocoa in the "frosting" this year (that Joel gave me for Christmas) which may account for the lighter color of this log.

The second Bûche de Noël is from last year (my first ever). And, the collage shows what the Yule Log looked like when the kids were done having decorating fun with it. Happy New Year!!

Let Them Eat... Snow!!

Hey, if life dumps 10-inches of snow in your yard, make snow cream!

The kids kept wanting to eat the light, fluffy snow today, and who could blame them? I promised them real snow cones tonight, so we did these beauties when we were done with all our snow adventures today!

I know many folks make this with cream (but I didn't have any) and most only use vanilla (but when I think of snow, I think peppermint). These turned out great — like the lightest, creamy vanilla ice cream ever with a kiss of cool peppermint. Heavenly.

Peppermint Vanilla Snow Cream

1. Scoop up a big bowl of clean snow from your backyard, and bring it inside.
2. Take the last cup of whole milk left in the container (or half-and-half or cream if you have it) and add a couple Tbs. of sugar, 1 tsp (or so) of real vanilla and 1/2 tsp of real peppermint extract. Put the lid on the half-gallon and shake it up!
3. Scoop snow into dessert bowls and pour "cream" on top!
4. Enjoy!! Delish! (Can also top with whipped cream and sprinkles or crushed candy canes for an over-the-top snow cream sundae!)

Christmas Sweets Lineup...

We've baked up a plethora of tasty Christmas cookies, and cooked up some yummy candy too! The kids have even been in the mix on some of the rolling, cutting and decorating... They especially loved helping with the Finnish Gingerbread Snowflakes.

Grandma's Best Ginger Cookies (adapted from Entertaining The Finnish Way)
Makes about 10 dozen

1 1/4 c. butter
1 1/4 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 c. dark syrup (I used about 1/2 c. molasses and 1/2 c. dark Karo corn syrup - they don't have molasses in Finland)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cloves
1 Tbs. grated orange rind (I didn't have, so used 1/8 tsp. of Chinese Five Spice)
about 7 c. of flour (I used 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour and 1/2 all-purpose unbleached)
3 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 400-degrees F, bake cookies for about 10 minutes per batch. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and beat until fluffy. Mix spices into syrup in a glass Pyrex measuring cup and heat in microwave for 1 minute. Stir and pour into butter/egg mixture. Beat to combine. Slowly add the flour (and all the baking soda) about 1/2 at a time.

The original recipe says to cover the dough in plastic and leave overnight in a cool place before rolling, cutting and baking. I made mine early in the day, put it in a gallon Ziploc, and left it in a cool place until the evening when I rolled cut out and baked about 1/2 the batch. Then I stored the remaining dough in the fridge for 2 days until I did the additional 5-dozen snowflakes.

**Icing for Christmas Cut-outs**
2 Tbs. soft butter
2 tsp. extract (vanilla, lemon, almond, rum... whatever you prefer)
4 c. powdered sugar
enough milk to achieve the consistency that you want (for piping or spreading)
a couple drops of food coloring as desired
Pate de Fruit (you can change the flavor of this candy by using whatever fruit you prefer)
recipe adapted from SELF Magazine, December 2008 issue

Parchment paper
2 c. defrosted frozen strawberries (we used mango and papaya)
1 3/4 Tbs. apple pectin powder (found at health food stores) mixed into 3 Tbs. sugar
1 3/4 c. sugar
3 1/2 Tbs. light corn syrup (or Agave Syrup is even better!)
2 tsp. lemon juice (we used lime juice with our fruit choice)

Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper. Blend defrosted fruit in blender until smooth. Pour into saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle apple pectin powder/sugar mixture together over the fruit in pan and continue to cook over medium heat (reduced from medium-high) for about 2 mins. Add the additional 1 3/4 c. sugar in three batches, stirring after each and waiting about 15 seconds before adding each consecutive batch. Then add agave (or corn) syrup and cook until mixture thickens slightly, about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in citrus juice, then pour mixture into prepared pan and spread out in an even layer. Let set for at least 2 hours, then cut into desire shapes and toss in additional sugar to coat.
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Coconut Snowball Crisps
(adapted from Everyday With Rachael Ray December 2008)

3 large egg whites
1 pinch salt
1 c. powdered sugar
2 c. sweetened shredded coconut
2 c. Rice Krispies cereal
1/4 c. cornstarch

Preheat oven to 200-degrees F (they bake for one hour). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment. Beat egg whites and salt on medium-high speed of mixer with whisk attachment until thick and foamy, then add sugar and once incorporated, beat on high for about 5 minutes (until firm and glossy).

In another bowl, toss together the additional three dry ingredients, then fold the coconut mixture into the egg whites when ready. Scoop with small cookie scoop into parchment-lined sheets. They can be fairly close together since these cookies do not spread at all, and are basically drying out in the 200-degree oven for 1 hour (until firm and dry to touch). A good cookie to do at the end of a baking day.