Golden Pillows

Hello Sweets,

I cannot wait until spring is finally here, because my health is just on a roller coaster ride and it is not fun.  I've been having really bad migraines, which then causes dizziness and nausea.  Naturally that means I haven't been in the kitchen much, but I'm changing that tonight!  I'm making my grandfather a special little surprise for his birthday, and I'll share it with y'all tomorrow.

Tonight I am bringing you a sweet and unique treat :)  It's my favorite dessert at El Fenix when I'm in Texas, so much that we'll order extra to bring home for later lol.  Obviously it is a Mexican dessert, and it also very traditional for them.  I'm going to get right in to the recipe tonight, that way I can hopefully beat the migraine before it flares back up.

Sopapillas

Ingredients

1 egg

2/3C milk

1Tbs sugar

1tsp salt

1Tbs baking powder

2C flour

fat for deep frying (I used olive oil)

Directions:
1)  Beat egg with milk.

2)  Add sugar and salt.

3)  Add baking powder to flour.

4)  Add to egg mixture; knead well.  Add additional flour as needed by tablespoonfuls.  Knead until smooth and non sticky; place in bowl.

5)  Cover; let stand for about 10 minutes.

6)  Roll out very thin; cut into 2"-3" strips.

7)  Drop into very hot fat.  Dough puffs quickly into little pillows.

8)  Drain on paper towel. 

9)  Serve hot; plain or with honey or cinnamon sugar.

 

So yummy!!  They turned out exactly as I've had them in restaurants many times before.  Since I made them here, Nathan missed out, but I promised him I would make them when I come home to Texas ;)

Well I was right, the migraine has regrouped and started to intensify :(  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Another Little Addition to the Pumpkin Patch!

Hello Sweets,

Fall is in full swing in Ontario, which means bright and beautiful colored leaves.  I should probably take a picture so y'all can really understand my favorite part of colder weather.  The other thing I love about fall is all the fruits and veggies that become a staple on our dinner table, and we all know I have a not so secret love affair with pumpkin!

Do you know how many batches of pumpkin cupcakes I've made in the last two months?  I've made three batches, which is 72 cupcakes!  Crazy right?  Needless to say I felt the need to go outside of the box when I was left with extra pumpkin purée.  Last year I experimented with pumpkin pancakes, and they are the epitome of a fall breakfast food.  They are full of flavor, heavier than traditional pancakes so they're filling, and the spiciness is warm and reflection of fall.  However, that is not what I wanted to do, I wanted to bring y'all something new :)  I've been seeing a lot of pumpkin cookies popping up all over Facebook and Pinterest, but I hadn't seen one that really peaked my interest.  That is until last night, thank you insomnia lol finally a plus side!!

Spiced Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

Cookie:

2C flour

1 1/3C rolled oats (not quick!)

1 1/4tsp baking powder

1 1/2tsp cinnamon

1tsp ginger

1tsp salt

1/2tsp nutmeg

1/2tsp allspice, heaping

1C butter, room temperature

1C packed dark brown sugar

1C sugar 

1 large egg, room temperature 

1tsp vanilla

1 3/4C pumpkin purée

 

Icing:

1 1/2C icing sugar

3Tbs + 1tsp milk

2Tbs maple syrup

 

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350F, arrange oven racks so it's split into thirds.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside. 

2)  Whisk flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt, nutmeg, and allspice in a medium bowl to aerate and break up any lumps; set aside. 

 

3)  Place the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer, fit with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about five minutes. 

 

4)  Add the egg and vanilla, beating until fully incorporated about thirty seconds. 

 

5)  On low speed, add half of the flour mixture and mix well. Add 1/2 the pumpkin purée and mix until just incorporated.  Repeat with the remain in flour and pumpkin.

 

6)  Drop 8 dough rounds per baking sheet 2" apart on prepared sheets.  Put remaining dough in the refrigerator. 

 

7)  Bake for 12 minutes, rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back until the cookies are golden brown on the bottom and sides, about 12 more minutes. 

8)  Cool on baking sheets for three minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Let baking sheets cool to room temperature before repeating with remaining cookie dough. Set cookies on parchment paper once cooled.

9)  Place all the glaze ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk until evenly combined.

 

 

10)  Dip fork in glaze and drizzle over cookies in a zigzag pattern. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes to allow the glaze to set before storing. 

 

These cookies are so delicious, full body flavor, spiciness, and soft chewy goodness.  I think from now on I'll make cupcakes and cookies, that should be a nice balance.  Might I dare even say these may be my new favorite cookie ;)  Ah who am I kidding, I'm a shortbread girl all the way lol!

 

 

Over the next few days I will be making some of my favorite cookies, so my posts will be shorter and random while recreating tried and true recipes.  I'll even be making a must have snack for Nathan ;)

I forgot to mention Nathan is coming to Canada this weekend!!!!!!!!!!  Can you tell I'm excited lol, I cannot wait to see him and be in his arms.  We have a jam packed couple of days, typical dinner/lunch with the grandparents.  Then on Sunday I am being baptized :) and I am very excited for all the important people in my life to be sharing that day with me, after we will all be heading out to one of my favorite restaurants, The Bungalow.  Ooooohhhh I am going to do a foodie review =)  Then we're hoping to spend some time with my mom and her husband before we jet off Monday back to my home in Texas!  I am a happy girl right now and nothing will take that away from me ;)  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Candy With Some Zing!

Hello Sweets,

Did you have a manic Monday?  I had a painful Monday :(, why you ask?  Well I get TPI's (trigger point injections) every month and where I get them there isn't a lot of muscle or even fat (ie my head).  It's weird though because they've always been painful, but the last few months it seems even worse, but I will keep going at it to try and get back to my regular old self :)

I want to give you all a heads up that today's post will be on the shorter side for a few reasons; 1) I'm not feeling so hot, 2) I'm tired and need to try and nap, and 3) because it will lead into a longer post tomorrow ;)
As most of my readers know I have some "go to" comforts that seem to be the only things that make me feel better or allow me to eat when I am having a bad day.  One that is definitely in my top five is ginger ale, you know the beverage that every grandmother would give you to settle your stomach (even though it should have been flat lol)?  Well still to this day I love it and with all of my not feeling well reminded me of a time when I worked for a retirement home.  Now we're going back a few years but I loved the people I was helping everyday, it honestly was like having one hundred grandparents :)  Of course each of the staff had our favorites, I know I did, and they all stood out for their own unique qualities or traits.  One specific gentlemen named Jack was funny, very friendly, and was always looking out for us girls.  I would volunteer every other weekend to have a billiards day (they had a very nice pool table), and sometimes it would just be Jack and I playing for hours.  One day while helping with cleaning his room, I had a terrible stomach ache and felt awful, he immediately picked up on it and said "I have just the thing for you".  When he came back he was holding open a small candy jar, only I had no idea what the pieces were inside.  Since I had this perplexed look on my face, he spoke up and explained that it was candied ginger and that it would help settle my stomach.  Knowing I still had a good four hours until the end of my shift I thought I'll give it a shot since I didn't have any ginger ale, and sure enough it did the trick.  Now I do keep some on hand that I picked up but it doesn't always help unfortunately, and then one day I ran out and while I was at the grocery store I saw they had fresh ginger on sale.  I took it as divine intervention, the baking Gods were putting a challenge right in front of me and telling me I could make this on my own.  So thanks to my funky little AllRecipe app for my iPhone, that is the recipe I'm bringing to you today!

Candied Ginger via (AllRecipes)

Ingredients

2C sugar

2C fresh ginger, cut into thin slices

2C water

  

I didn't use bottled water lol

Directions:

1)  In a medium sauce pan combine the sugar, ginger, and water bringing to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and let simmer until it becomes syrupy and the liquid has been reduced by half 40-45 minutes.  Strain the ginger out and reserve the syrup (if you'd like, I didn't).

2)  I was a little impatient in regards to letting them dry so I threw them in the oven on a low heat until they became tacky to the touch.  I then tossed them in sugar and stored in an air tight container until I needed them.

 from this

to this!

I apologize for the lack of "process" pictures, not sure what I was thinking.  It wasn't overly complicated and I did it without a candy thermometer :)  The smell of the fresh ginger was a lovely aroma that you don't smell very often, and not to mention the fruits of my labor are delish!

So tomorrow you will see what I did with a majority of these bad boys, until them I'll leave you with the many ideas that run through your brains and I'll go try and nap!  Until next time.............................

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Baby You Make Me Do Pinwheels

Hello Sweets,

How is everyones Christmas celebrations going?  Are any of you already on holidays, kicking your feet up or rushing to finish your shopping?  I am pretty much done with the shopping part, though I do still have one more gift to get but after, that I'm done :)   As for the baking I am still in full gear, but I am giving sugar cookies a break to try some new recipes out!

I wasn't sure what recipe to do next, only because I have a few newbies I want to try, but then as I turned the page, the angels started sing lol.  Nathan loves cinnamon, so for today's post I have cinnamon pinwheels for you to try too.  This is a recipe that needs to sit in the fridge not once, but twice, the latter being a three hour minimum or overnight preferably, so you must have patience for this one :)

Cinnamon Pinwheels (via Food Network)

Ingredients

2C all-purpose flour

1/2Tsp baking powder

1/4Tsp salt

1 1/2 sticks(12Tbs) of butter, room temperature

2/3C granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2Tsp vanilla extract

1/4Tsp cinnamon extract (optional)

1 Tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4Tsp red food coloring

1 Tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tbs sanding sugar (clear or red) plus more for coating

Directions:

1)  Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.

2)  Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.

 

3)  Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated.  Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.

 

4)  Remove half the dough and wrap in plastic wrap.  Add the cinnamon extract, cocoa powder, and food coloring to the remaining dough and beat until incorporated; wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate both pieces of dough until firm; about one hour.

  

 5)  Dust the dough with flour and roll out each piece on parchment paper into a 10"x11" rectangle.  Flip the red dough on top of the plain dough; remove the top piece of parchment paper and trim the edges.  Sprinkle the ground cinnamon and sanding sugar on top.  Starting from a short end, tightly roll up the dough, using the parchment to help; roll the log in sanding sugar.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight. (sorry about the lack of pictures :( )

6)  Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.  Slice the log crosswise 1/4" thick; arrange the slices about 1 1/2" apart on the baking sheet.  Bake, switching the position of the pans halfway through until slightly puffed and lightly golden brown on the bottoms, 12-15 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to racks to cool.

 

These cookies embody both cinnamon and sugar cookies, and they look fantastic too!  It's a simple recipe to do.  I would say the hardest part would be the rolling of the doughs together, but the parchment paper is a big help with that :)

Now I do want to give all of you a heads up that tomorrow I will be baking the famous pecan pie muffins, so I will talk a bit about those, and also a tiny bit regarding my fun and fabulous gift that I am making.  Like I said before, I can't show or talk about the gift as a whole, but what I've decided to do is take "clue" pictures, and then after I have given them out (probably the 26th), I will do a post on the how to so you guys can do it too!!  Until next time........

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxoxo

Things That Make You Go Huh?

Hello Sweets,

I hope you all had a relaxing Sunday.  Nathan and I had some Christmas shopping to wrap up (I also found one final package of reindeer!!), and then we had a family dinner to attend so it wasn't "relaxing" lol, actually more like hectic!

I can't even begin to describe how excited I was to find one last package of the reindeer decorations.  I had a feeling we would be lucky to find even just one, but I have decided to try and pipe some reindeer cookies in the near future :)  Of course I will do a post complete with pictures so I can share what I hope to be a success :)  Speaking of cookies, I have yet another sugar cookie recipe to share with you today, and this one has an ingredient that really had me perplexed.  What ingredient you ask?  Cream of tartar.  When I read that I didn't think it made much sense, the only tartar I know of is what people eat with english style fish and chips.  Of course I had to look it up to find out what the connection was to cookies, and the cream of tartar I found out gives the cookies a creamier texture.  I have never used it before so lets see if it makes a great cookie even better shall we?  Oh, and I thought it would be fun to share with you guys that I actually burnt out an electric mixer lol!  Apparently I pushed it past it's limits, so Nathan being the awesome boyfriend that he is went out and got me a tool grade one by Black & Decker :)  He's the bestest boyfriend EVER, check it out.

even has a snazzy tool case hehe

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1C butter, softened

1 1/2C powdered sugar

1 egg

1 Tsp vanilla extract

1/2Tsp almond extract

2 1/2C all-purpose flour

1 Tsp baking soda

1 Tsp cream of tartar

granulated sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1)  Mix together sugar and butter.

2)  Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract; mix well.

 

3)  Blend in flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar.  Cover and chill for 2-3 hours

4)  Preheat oven to 375F.  Divide the dough in half.  Roll each half 3/16" on lightly floured cloth-covered board.  Cut into desired shapes; sprinkle with granulated sugar.  Place on lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake 7-8 minutes, or until light gold on the edges.

5)  Let cool completely, then decorate as desired and enjoy!  (Royal Icing Recipe)

 

Aren't they just the cutest!

Yet another fabulous sugar cookie recipe!  My favorite part of a sugar cookie is the soft centers :) and I really am enjoying watching my decorating skills grow.  I'm torn now, do I bake another sugar cookie recipe tomorrow or do I try something completely new?  I guess you'll have to come back tomorrow and find out ;)  

Oh and remember that crazy measuring spoon I talked about in a past post?  Well I used it tonight and I love it!  Check it out :)  

Until next time.........

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo