Alton Brown is my hero

I love this recipe
Glazed Carrots

I tried to make a video:

KRIS CRINKLE

Holiday baking is forced....and yet its the only time of year we make such things as crinkle/crackle cookies and bourbon balls. Roll-out short bread and buckeyes....at least for me.

Here is my new take on chocolate crinkles.
1 stick butter, unsalted
5 squares of unsweetened baking chocolate
2 Tablespoons Frangelico (num num)
4 eggs (I use cage happy free)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar (I use the dark)
2 cups plus 3 Tablespoons unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
about 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for rolling

Heat butter and chocolate in a double boiler until melted, add Frangelico stir until smooth and remove from heat. In a mixing bowl combine eggs and salt. Add sugars. Add chocolate mixture. Add flour and baking powder for form dough. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Roll into 3/4" balls roll in confectioners' sugar. Place 2" apart on greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degree oven.

I usually let the cookies set on the pan for about 2 minutes then place them on kraft paper to cool (I use a brown paper grocery bag...)

These cookies freeze really well.

Sweet Potato Madness!

So I really wanted to make chili yesterday and I've been on a no meat kick lately so I was going to use fake meat in the chili. Alas, when I went to the store close to my parents house (my least favorite grocer in Cincinnati) there were very limited fake meat products to begin with. Normally I don't condone the fake meat....its not very foodie like. So I decided to pick up Sweet Potatoes....which apparently according to the internet is a pretty common vegetarian chili ingredient so here is my version...
Sweet Potato Chili

2 large sweet potatoes peeled and cubed!
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 16oz can of kidney beans
1 16oz can of black beans
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2 Tablespoons salt
2 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons cumin
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon dark cocoa powder
1 cup of water
6-8 oz autumn-ish beer

Place all ingredients in the crockpot for 4-6 hours on high setting! Let is get happy. Serve with cornbread or biscuits. Or frankly, whatever your heart desires.

Honey Pie

I took this recipe from this book by Max Brenner So I'm not sure if i can legally post the recipe. He calls it my very own honey pie manifest it includes honey, eggs, butter, pecans, chocolate, and fresh nutmeg. For this particular pie I used a pie crust that consisted of 1 1/4 cups of flour, a stick of butter, salt, and 4 tablespoons of ice cold vodka! The crust turned out perfect. I served it of course with whiskey whipped cream with cinnamon in it! This cookbook is fantastic and each recipe is paired with a piece of graphic art! Very kitsch!

sorry pie pic finally....

Sugar Pumpkin

So one of my very best friends, Ryan was in town and he asked me if I have ever made a pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin. And I had not. So on Monday I roasted a pumpkin with him and we made a pie. It was really quite easy. Just took a good chunk of time. But with good company and some hard apple cider time is not wasted.

So we took two pie pumpkins or sugar pumpkins, whatever you want to call them. Cut them in half, removed the stem and seeds and all the stringy flesh, cut them in half again. Placed them in a roasting pan after a hand massage with butter and a sprinkle of salt and loosely covered them with foil. They were roasted at about 375 F for about 70 minutes. After about 40 minutes I ended up pouring about 1/3 cup of water into each pan because I felt like they were not getting soft enough.
I removed them from the oven and Ryan and I peeled back the skin. We pureed the hell of them in a food processor with no extra liquid. Both of these pumpkins made enough puree for two pies and I have some leftover in the freezer, probably enough for another pie. So only one pumpkin is necessary.

For the pie crust!
about 8 oz of ginger snap cookies, made into crumbs
3 Tablespoons of white sugar
7 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

Combine ingredients and press into pie dish. Bake for 4 minutes at about 350 F.

For pie filling
15 oz of pumpkin puree!!!!! Made from a real punkin'
1 1/4 cups of whipping cream! WHOA! I know, it was in the fridge though
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3 cage free eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Combine ingredients. This is really thin, but does thicken in oven. Pour into pie crust. Bake for 60 minutes at 350 F.

Let cool.
Serve with fresh whipped cream!

Whiskey whipped cream:
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 shot of your favorite whiskey I used Basil Hayden which is phenomenal

Beat with hand mixer until stiff!

This turned out crazy amazing!
This was the most fun I've had baking in a while. My camera is on the fritz, but I shall attach one I took with my cell phone....tacky I know but it still looks tempting.....

Outer Banks has fresh local fish

As I am always trying to be more green I try not to eat a lot of seafood when I'm in Ohio because it's not local to this area and it's really expensive. But when in Rome.....
This past weekend I went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, which was fabulous. The motel I stayed in had a kitchenette, which included surprisingly a cast iron skillet - one of my favorites. I went to a fish market and picked up a feast to prepare for about 7 people I believe. I seasoned everything with salt, pepper, old bay and a garlic herb grinder. I also cut up some really large shallots and a couple cloves of garlic into the cook process. The feast included : Shrimps...Domestic Mahi Mahi....Scallops
Then I cooked more onions and garlic in the skillet to make them all golden brown and then deglazed the pan with about a cup of white wine and let it simmer for about 6 minutes. Then I added a ajr of store bought marinara, roasted tomato and basil I believe is what I grabbed from Erin's kitchen. Let that simmer for a bit so the flavors could get happy. Tossed it with an even mixture of angel hair and spaghettini. Then served with the fish on top.

If I had a well stocked kitchen I would have sprinkled the dish with parmesan cheese, and maybe some chopped fresh basil.

It was delicious though......