Homemade Butter Mints

This past weekend I was thrilled to be reunited with two of my favorite people - my brother and my sister-in-law! Due to living overseas and being far away from each other here in the States, this is the first time in THREE years that we've all been together! While we were all together, we figured it'd be a good time to throw a surprise baby shower for my sis-in-law. She's just about the cutest preg-o ever!

Mom asked me if I'd bring some nuts and mints for the shower, so of course I set out to make these items at home. After doing some research, I came up with the recipe that seemed to work best for me.

Homemade Butter Mints: Yields 50-75

Ingredients:

1 stick butter (room temp)

5-5.5 cups powdered sugar

3 tbsp milk

1 tsp peppermint extract

Any type of food coloring

1 cup of granulated sugar (for rolling)

Equipment:

Stand mixer or hand mixer

Candy mold (any shape) or small fork for patterning

Directions:

1. Beat butter lightly until combined. With the butter at room temp, this should be a breeze! 

2. Once the butter is smooth, slowly add in powdered sugar until it combines.

3. Slowly add in milk and continue to mix. After it begins to form together, add in any food coloring and mix well.

4. At this point, the mixture will almost take the texture of play-dough. Scrape the sides of the bowl to gather any scraps, remove from mixing bowl and form into ball.

5. Pour granulated sugar into small bowl and set aside. 

6. Pinch off small pieces of "dough" and place in granulated sugar. Roll, then lay out on wax paper. I didn't have a candy mold, so I simply made criss-cross patterns in the mint with the back of a fork. (If you have a candy mold, put the dough directly from the granulated sugar into the mold.)

These mints were so yummy and refreshing! I let the mints dry for a few hours, and then put them in an air-tight container in the fridge.  They also freeze really well and will keep for at least 1-2 months.

Sopapillas... kind of

My husband and I both love Mexican food - probably more than any other cuisine. When we lived overseas we literally had no real options for Mexican food, so we were left to our own devices to make tortilla chips, tacos, and salsa from scratch. One of our favorite rip-off recipes are for sopapillas. Now, please let me preface this recipe with the frank realization that these are NOTHING like the real deal - it's simply our take on the famous dessert with what we had access to at the time. Plus, when you haven't had authentic Mexican food in two years, it tastes like the real thing!

Ingredients:

Small Flour tortillas (2-4 depending on servings desired)

1.5 tbs butter

1 tbs brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Honey, for drizzling

Equipment:

Skillet or frying pan

Directions:

1. Preheat skillet or frying pan with small amount of butter.

2. In microwave or saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. (In the microwave, it should melt in 30 seconds or less.)

3. Once skillet is pre-heated, put spoonful of butter/sugar mixture into pan and place first tortilla on top. It'll start to caramelize and soak into the tortilla.

4. While the bottom is cooking, put another spoonful of butter/sugar mixture on top portion of tortilla and spread out with the back of the spoon.

5. Once the bottom begins to brown, flip the tortilla and allow it to crisp up. By this point, a few air bubbles should start to form. 

6. As soon as the tortilla is crisp, remove and promptly drizzle honey. You can also top with vanilla ice cream or more cinnamon.

Variations:

One of our favorite desserts combines the basic sopapilla with a cheesecake filling. You can follow similar directions, but upon removing the tortilla from the pan, immediately pipe or spoon cheesecake filling and fold sopapilla.

Coming Soon...

I have tons of new recipes ready to go in the next few weeks... some of them have to remain top-secret until 2011. Until then, here's a teaser for my easy version of one of my husband's favorite desserts.

Happy New Year!

I'm back!

It's been over a year since I posted... sorry about that in case anyone still reads this blog! :) We've moved back to the States since the last time I wrote, so we've been going through tons of changes and trying to get back to normal! In the meantime, I've started working full-time again, which unfortunately cuts into my cooking time.

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of going through my paw-paw and grandma's kitchen with my mom. My grandma passed away almost 5 years ago, so I'm thankful for any reminder of her that I can get. One of my favorite discoveries was a collection of recipes and old cookbooks.

I've been pouring over these hand-written recipes like a kid in a candy store. I can't get enough of the simplicity of the good, quality food that's represented in these note cards.

My aim is to cook good, healthy food for my hubby and myself, while maintaining an atmosphere of family and warmth. Here's to good food, good company, and good memories!

Bakerella's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (If you don't have all-purpose flour, add a smidge of baking powder and salt.)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F, 180C.
2. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder (if you need it), and salt.
3. In separate bowl, beat butter and sugars until blended.
4. Blend in eggs and vanilla.
5. Mix flour mixture and sugar mixture until combined.
6. Spoon onto baking sheet and bake about 8-10 minutes or until golden brown! :)

Originally posted here: http://www.bakerella.com/milk-cookies/

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

Ingredients:

Muffins:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups diced apple

Topping:

3 tbsp coarse sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 190C, 375F.

2. In medium-sized bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, spices, and salt.

3. In small bowl mix egg and brown sugar. Add butter, oil and vanilla and combine.

4. Mix flour and egg mixture together, mix to combine well.

5. Add diced apple and gently mix.

6. Pour into muffin tins about 3/4 full.

7. In small bowl, mix together cinnamon and sugar. Add about 1 tsp to tops of each muffin mixture.

8. Bake for about 15 minutes and cool.

Gingerbread Cookies

I've officially started the holiday season here in CA... and I'm not talking about Thanksgiving. Don't worry, we're celebrating Thanksgiving next week... but I'm so ready for Christmas! I saw this recipe for Gingerbread cookies online and I thought I'd try it since I knew I actually had all of the ingredients here. These are not made with molasses, as traditional Gingerbread cookies are. Instead, it uses brown sugar and dark corn syrup (Karo.) For those who don't have access to either, I've heard that pekmez will do the same thing in a pinch!

So, it's not the best picture, but you get the idea :)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened (I used 3/4 cup)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup dark karo syrup
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups flour (If you don't have self-rising/all-purpose, add 1 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt.)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 heaping tbs cinnamon
1 heaping tbs ginger

Directions:
1. Cream together butter, sugar, and karo syrup.
2. Add in egg and vanilla, mix to combine.
3. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
4. Add together and mix well.
5. Cover and place in fridge for at least an hour - overnight is fine too.
6. Preheat oven to 375F, 190C.
7. On a floured surface, roll dough out to about 1/4 inch.
8. Bake for about 7-9 minutes and cool before decorating.

Final thoughts? These tasted great, but they are definitely different from those made with molasses. To compensate, you can always add a tad bit more of ginger and cinnamon. To decorate, I used a mix of about 1 cup powdered sugar with about 1/4 cup milk (or less.) It turns out to be a nice light icing, and it tastes great together!

*Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker