Gingerbread Bundt Cake

It is not often I take on a recipe like this.  From scratch, more than 10 ingredients, definitely not a KTC recipe.

I promise you there is nothing difficult about this recipe and it truly is delicious with all the flavors of Christmas mixed in there.

Gingerbread Bundt Cake
Adapted From Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients
1 cup stout beer, I used Left Hand Nitro Stout
1 cup molasses
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350. Generously butter and flour a bundt pan, knock out the excess flour.
2. Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda. Cool to room temperature.
3. Mix flour, baking powder, and spices in a large mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl mix oil and sugars. Then whisk in oil and molasses mixture. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan, bang on the counter a few times to release air bubbles. Bake 50 minutes, until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs. Cool cake 5 minutes before removing from pan.
5. Dust cooled cake with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

This cake goes perfectly with a cup of tea.  You can also eat it for breakfast like I have been doing for the passed few days!

I wish you all a happy new year! I'll be back here in 2015.

Christmas Cookie Party

It cookie time folks! This is my second year hosting a cookie swap party.  The first was back in 2012 and can be seen here.

I decided to make treasure cookies.  They have all the ingredients of a magic square in cookie form.

Treasure Cookies

From Cookies and Cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups graham crackers, crushed
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 cup flaked coconut
2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Toss it all into a big bowl and mix it up.  Sorry, I just can be bothered with that whole separate bowl for dry and wet ingredients.
3. Scoop tablespoons of dough onto prepared pan leaving and inch or two for the cookies to spread. Bake 9-11 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
4.  Allow cookies to cool 3-4 minutes on the pan before removing them to a cooling rack.
5. Eat them all!!

So excited to use some new bake-ware!

Treasure cookies stay soft and chewy even days later.

Those are gingersnaps covered with marshmallow fluff, caramel, and pecans!

These are snowball cookies made with ground peanuts and filled with chocolate chips and peanut butter cups!

These are chocolate cookies filled with crushed peppermint and chocolate ganache!

Another successful evening of nonstop eating. I hope to do it all over again next year!

Potato Gratin with Brie and Pumpkin

I was given some fresh, roasted pumpkin a few weeks back.  I had never cooked with actual pumpkin before and was excited to put it into a savory dish.

Potato Gratin with Pumpkin and Brie

Ingredients

2 lb potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
1 cup heavy cream, I used half and half and things worked out just fine
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 oz brie, cubed into small pieces
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375.  In a small saucepan, heat cream, pumpkin, thyme, and nutmeg.  Whisk until combined.
2.  Grease a 2 qt casserole dish, line with first layer of potatoes and season with salt and pepper.  Spoon 1/3 of sauce of potatoes and top with both cheeses.  Repeat process, making 2 more potato later.
3. Bake for 50 minutes, until potatoes have browned and are tender.

My mandolin was fitted with the ridged blade at the time and I didn't really have the energy to change it to the flat blade.  That's why you see the ridges there, it is not intentional or integral to the recipe.

Love this side dish!!! It's a fun spin on a classic and of course with the brie in there it's way fancy.

Honeymoon Cruise Food Fest!

A few weeks ago I went on my honeymoon.  We cruised to Aruba, Colombia, Panama Canal, Costa Rica, and the Cayman Islands.  The scenery and adventures were incredible, but we know what you guys are here for...the food!

Princess Cruises did not let us down with their menu choices.  If you want a little run-down of a typical food filled day it goes a little something like this:

Breakfast at the buffet
Iced coffees/lattes at La Patisserie
Lunch at the buffet, or pizza, or the grill
Formal dinner: 3 courses, plus dessert each night
Post dinner snacks: a visit to the buffet, popcorn, ice cream, possible room service

Created with flickr slideshow.

Some of my favorites were:
Grilled calamari steak, I had it for a dinner entree and it was just incredible
Goat cheese and apple soup, served chilled, so interesting
Pistachio Chocolate Journey dessert, this is a limited edition 50th anniversary Princess cruise dessert. It was gorgeous and easily the most delicious dessert we had on the cruise.
Popcorn! All the time! It was like dreams coming true.

It was the trip of a lifetime, food and adventures all rolled into one.

Prosciutto Wrapped Ricotta Stuffed Chicken

This killer recipe was gifted to me in a recipe box from my bridal shower.  I hope to tear through these recipes in the coming weeks so look out for your contribution!

Prosciutto Wrapped Ricotta Stuffed Chicken
Ingredients
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
3 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 clove of garlic, minced (I used garlic powder)
1 tbsp Italian seasonings
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts*
4 slices of prosciutto

1.  Preheat oven to 400.  In a small bowl mix ricotta, parmesan, garlic, and Italian seasoning.  Butterfly each chicken breast and stuff with ricotta mixture.  Wrap each piece of chicken with prosciutto.
2. Place chicken onto a baking pan lightly coated with olive oil.  Cook 15-20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

*Note: I had a package of chicken in my freezer already sliced into pieces, so I flattened these out with a mallet and stuffed them with the cheese.  I then rolled the chicken and wrapped it in prosciutto to seal the cheese inside.

This is what I imagine a "fancy" dinner to be.  This recipe is super simple, but elegant enough for a dinner party.

So good! Thanks for the recipe!

Lobster Pockets

Fake lobster meat way buy one get one free when we were purchasing supplies for our mac and cheese bar.  That left me with one pack to find a creative use for.

I give you, lobster pockets!

Lobster Pockets

Ingredients

1 tube store bought pizza dough

1 8 oz package "lobster," chopped

1/4 cup olives, chopped

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

dried oregano, salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400. Roll out pizza dough onto a large, lightly greased, baking sheet.  Cut dough into 6 pieces.

2. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl.  Fill each dough bundle with about 1/4 cup of filling. Press along edges to seal.  Cook until dough is golden brown, about 15 minutes.  

I served these with a cucumber salad.  If I were you I would try out some dipping sauces with these guys.  Perhaps a tzakiki would be nice with the Mediterranean flavors here.

Mixed Berry Muffins

This was a weird morning.  

I had gotten out all the ingredients for these muffins, getting myself set up to start baking.  

Then I get a message from my dude: you should make some blueberry muffins today.  

How weird is that!?! We had not discussed baked goods at all, but somehow both wanted the same thing to eat.  

Incredible.

Mixed Berry Muffins

From How to Cook Everything

Ingredients

3 tbsp melted butter, or vegetable oil

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 cup berries of your choosing

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

2. Mix butter, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, egg, and milk in a large bowl.  Once mixture is combined, gently fold in berries.

3. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full with batter.  Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let rest for 5 minutes before removing muffins from the tin.

I see you eyeing that adorable recipe card holder I got for my bridal shower.

I'm going to miss these weekend breakfasts out on the patio.