Apple Crisp- Always a Winner

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I went to boarding school in Connecticut, and let me tell you, for those of you who don’t know- Connecticut winters are long.  Really long. Especially when you are used to South Carolina weather- that cold will take your breath away.  While I do love the snow, and skiing, and lots of things about winter, I have to say that I am enjoying the mild weather down south so much more.  But back to the cold dark winters of Connecticut.  We had vespers and formal dinner four nights a week- this meant boys in coats and ties and girls in skirts or dresses.  We would run in our nice dress shoes and stockings from our dorms across the very short driveway and yard to the main building where Vespers and dinner were held.  I never thought my legs or hands or face would get as cold as they did on the 20 yard sprint to main building, so of course I never wore a coat or gloves or anything smart.  Anything for fashion right! Well despite all of that torture (but not really because I did love it all), the dining hall would occasional serve apple crisp for dessert.  It was by far and away everyone’s favorite dessert.  My mouth waters just thinking about it.  Apple crisp and a few other things they did well- the rest of the food was typical dining hall food.  But seriously, their apple crisp was worth all the cold and darkness.  Here is my favorite apple crisp recipe- so delicious!!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

4 medium tart cooking apples, sliced (4 cups)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Whipped cream or Ice cream, if desired

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray.

Arrange apples in the bottom of the pan. In a bowl, rub together brown sugar, flour, oats, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg until well combined. Sprinkle mixture over apples.

Bake crisp for 30 minutes or until apples are tender. Remove from oven and top with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream to serve.

L’USINE and Jet Lag Dreams

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Happy New Year to everyone!!  I am finally coming out of the fog of jet lag from our trip to Vietnam which was awesome!  It was such an amazing trip, and I am the luckiest girl to have gotten to spend such a special vacation with my family.  I feel so lucky and blessed that I forwent (is that a real word?) eating the traditional black eyed peas and collard greens on New Years Day mainly because I really do feel so lucky, and I really do detest them, so it worked out.  First I want to give a quick up date on the trip.  The food was phenomenal.  Walker, of course was much more adventurous than I, but everything I had was fantastic.  I need to tell you about them most wonderful restaurant we went to.  Corby, Walker and I had a day of wandering around District 1, doing some shopping and attempting to go to the Vietnam War Remnants Museum (it was closed- hence the attempt).  Walker was quite the trooper dealing with me and Corby and all we wanted to see, especially since Walker’s cousins who live in Vietnam and had already seen all this stuff, were back at the house swimming and watching TV.  After several hours of walking in the heat, we decided lunch was in order.  My sister had mentioned a place called L’Usine that all the locals know about and love, and she had pointed out the alley you walk down to find the staircase that leads you to the restaurant.  Fortunately, we were right around the same area, and I managed to find the alley.  Walker was very skeptical.  As we climbed the stairs and finally found L’Usine (http://www.lusinespace.com/), we actually realized we had found heaven.  It was like walking out of Vietnam and into the coolest Manhattan downtown loft space ever.  It also helped that one of the first things we saw was a huge display of cupcakes.   We sat down to a delicious menu.  Walker ordered the baby squid and clam linguini while I ordered a delectable cheese plate. It was a fantastic lunch, and Corby I think just about fell in love with that place and would make the 30 hour trip to Vietnam just to go back.  We then ordered cupcakes that came from a bakery called Sweet and Sour run by a girl from Wilmington, NC- no wonder they were so good!  Anyway, L’Usine was definitely a highlight of the trip!!

Now, here is a quick little recipe that I came up with at 4 am dealing with jet lag.  I know that I am not the first person to think of this, but I thought it sounded great and so easy!  I love Pilsbury Crescent Rolls- but what about before you roll them up, sprinkle some grated cheddar cheese and bits of bacon in them.  Or for a breakfast treat- sprinkle cinnamon sugar in them- roll them up and then sprinkle more on top.  Just a little twist that I am going to try out this weekend!!

 

Best Holiday Gift- Hot Fudge Sauce

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I was looking around for easy fun gift ideas for friends when I saw in Southern Living (www.southernliving.com) the idea of gift jars of hot fudge sauce.  I had a few nights before fixed Corby and Walker ice cream for dessert and had found some hot fudge in the refrigerator.  I heated it up and poured some on Corby’s ice cream.  This is not something that we have very often at all, and I am wondering now why we don’t have it very often because it is awesome.  For some reason, it is just not something I think about adding to ice cream, and it makes ice cream- especially oreo ice cream so much better!  So, this gift idea really appealed to me, and of course they had an awesome recipe to go with it.  Find some mason jars and fill them with hot fudge sauce- which by the way is super easy to make, tie a ribbon around them, and you have become the hero of Christmas!

Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:

1 (8-ounce) package unsweetened chocolate baking squares
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Melt chocolate and butter in a large, heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add milk, and cook, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. (Do not boil.) Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract and salt. Cover and chill leftover sauce up to 2 weeks.
To reheat: Microwave sauce in a glass bowl at HIGH 1 minute. Stir and microwave at HIGH 1 more minute or until sauce is thoroughly heated.

MMMM Eggnog

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So winter finally decided to visit Charleston, and it is now freezing!  I am sure the cold won’t last but while it does, what is better than eggnog and a fire?  Pretty sure it is at the top of the list.  It is great for parties, it is great for Sunday afternoon, and last night, it was great for Wednesday night.  And while I really do love eggnog, I find it to be a little like candy corns, I think it is probably best that they only come out at Halloween.  Eggnog is a Christmas thing, and that makes it even better.  Here is a great recipe for eggnog for the adults, and another on for the kids.

Eggnog (adult version)

Ingredients:

6 large eggs
3/4 cups vanilla sugar
1 quarts half and half (or light cream)
1 cup brandy
2 cups bourbon or dark rum
freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:

In large bowl, beat eggs until pale yellow and slightly frothy. Add sugar and half and half, and stir until well blended. Add brandy or bourbon (or dark rum) and stir. Transfer to large pitcher and chill until cold, at least 3 hours. Divide between 6 punch cups, garnish each with sprinkle of nutmeg, and serve.

Eggnog (for kids)

Ingredients:

3 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

freshly grated nutmeg

Directions:

Whisk together the milk, cream, sugar, and eggs in a medium-sized nonreactive saucepan.

Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Do not let it boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Serve immediately, topped with freshly grated nutmeg to taste. Or you may refrigerate it, serve it cold, or reheat it before serving. If it thickens with refrigeration, simply thin with a little extra milk.

Lemonade and Gingerbread Angels

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I am trying so hard to get into the Christmas spirit!!  But when it is over 80 degrees, and Walker and two of his buddies have a ragingly successful lemonade stand in the middle of December, it just does not feel like Christmas.  So to combat the feelings of summer, I made gingerbread angels over the weekend.  They are so pretty, and now the house smells like cinnamon and nutmeg and all sorts of Christmasy smells, and it is back in the frigid 70s today, so a little less like summer.  I got a very cute picture of my angels pre decorations and wanted to get one post decorations, but Walker and his friends ate them too quickly.  I love this recipe because it is so easy, but the one trick I think is to make sure you roll out the dough thinly enough because the gingerbread definitely rises in the oven.

Gingerbread Men (or Angels)

Cream:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses

Sift:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

Add dry ingredients to the butter- sugar mixture alternately with about 1/4- 1/2 cup water, or enough to be able to roll out the dough.  Cut into shapes for a house or into gingerbread men and bake on double waxed paper.  Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Christmas Parade and a Cookie Decorating Contest

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The annual Charleston Christmas Parade was yesterday afternoon.  I haven’t been to the parade in maybe twenty years, and it was so much fun.  The parade route runs right in front of the Charleston Library Society where I work, and it is definitely one of the best places to watch the parade.  First, the steps going up to the Library offer seating and a great vantage point for lots of people, and more importantly, we hosted an awesome cookie decorating contest.  We had a category for adults and one for children, and everybody got so into it.  We had four tartlet dishes donated from Le Creuset for our adult winner, and we had two gift certificates to Robot Candy for our kid winners.  I was in charge of making/getting the cookies and all of the decorating items.  I took Walker to the grocery store with me to help me pick out what we would need, and let’s just say we went a touch overboard (which is probably why the cookie were as awesome as they were)!  I had every intention of baking 200 sugar cookies using this great recipe I found on a wonderful blog called Baked Bree (www.bakedbree.com).  They really are delicious cookies, but while at the grocery store, the 12 for $3.00 fresh baked sugar cookies seemed so much easier, so those won out.  However, if you don’t have to make 200 cookies, I highly recommend this recipe.  Judging was very difficult with so many creative cookies- such a fun day!!

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups softened unsalted butter
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon butter extract (optional)
7 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Cream together the butter and sugar until it is really light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla and butter extracts. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 3-4 hours or overnight.
Roll the dough out and cut using your favorite cookie cutter.
Bake the cookies in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Do not brown the edges.

 

Not a trick Carrot Cake

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I used to think my mother was trying to trick me into eating vegetables when she would make carrot cake.  I also used think she was not being very sneaky since she called it carrot cake- clearly there were carrots in there.  So, of course I would scrape off the delicious cream cheese icing and not eat the carrot cake.  It wasn’t until actually recently that I ate carrot cake- the actual cake part, and it is freaking delicious.  Who knew!! And it turns out, my mom’s is the best- I might be biased but you can judge for yourself.

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups cooking oil

3 cups grated carrots

4 eggs

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

Sift first 6 ingredients into a bowl; stir in oil.  Add carrots and then eggs, one at a time.  Fold in nuts and bake at 300 for 45 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing

Mix with hand mixer 1 package (8oz) cream cheese at room temperature, 2 tsp vanilla, 1/2 stick butter softened and 1 box of powdered sugar. (It is still the best part of the cake!)

Hot Chocolate Pudding

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Every year when I was little, we would spend either Thanksgiving or Christmas at my grandparent’s house.  It was always a lot of fun being with the whole family, but the best part every year was dessert.  My grandmother used to make the most amazing dessert that I had always known as “Gook” but that is not its actual name- actually it was hot chocolate pudding.  I don’t know why it was called that other than maybe a combination of gooey cake, but either way- it is awesome.  For some reason around when I was ten or twelve, we stopped having this as dessert, and while of course only complimentary things were said of the new dessert- everyone really just wanted the “Gook” back.  I decided to make it for dessert last week mainly because the weather seemed to call for a hot dessert, and I hadn’t had this goodness in about twenty years.  It was everything I remembered and more.  The recipe calls for two squares of unsweetened chocolate.  I got the best unsweetened chocolate I could find at the grocery store as opposed to just the regular Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate.  I think better chocolate equals better dessert.  The squares however were much bigger than the regular squares that you find, so I added extra sugar and milk to the recipe. The other slight adaption that I made was I only had skim milk, and I thought that heavier milk was probably needed.  I also had heavy whipping cream in the fridge, so I used a little more than half heavy cream and the rest skim milk- this worked well but probably whole milk would be best.  Also, the recipe says to grease and flour a double boiler.  I had never heard of this, nor had anyone at the store where I went to buy my double boiler.  The reason behind this is because the bottom and edges of the pudding get cakey- which is the desired effect, so if the double boiler is greased and floured- it is obviously easier to get out.  This might be the most decadent, rich and delicious chocolate dessert I have ever had because basically what you are making is not fully cooked brownies- it’s pretty awesome.  Enjoy!!

Hot Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients:

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp butter

2 squares unsweetened chocolate

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Beat egg and sugar together.  Melt butter and chocolate.  Add to sugar mixture, beating well.  Add vanilla and milk, then the flour sifted with the baking powder and salt.  Place in greased and floured double boiler for 1 hour.  Serve at once with whipped cream.

 

Loveless Cafe Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies

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I know that I have posted a bunch of recipes using pumpkin, but it is such a great fall ingredient and it tastes so good, so here is one more.  I made these this past weekend, and they are amazing.  Thank you to the Loveless Cafe in Nashville for another great recipe.  I will say that I did not have any Loveless Cafe Biscuit Mix which the recipe calls for and had to use Bisquick, so while I loved these little treats- I am assuming that they would probably have been better had I used the Loveless Cafe Biscuit Mix.  I will have to get some of that!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies

Ingredients:

1 package cream cheese, softened

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

½ cup canned pumpkin

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1 cup Loveless Cafe Biscuit Mix (or other biscuit mix)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add sugar, pumpkin, vanilla and egg. In a separate bowl, combine flour and Loveless Cafe Biscuit Mix (or other biscuit mix), baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients and place dough in refrigerator for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, line cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350°. Place spoonful’s of chilled dough on sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake 10-12 minutes. Let cool 2-3 minutes before putting on a cooling rack. Let cookies cool completely.

Ingredients for Maple Cream Cheese Icing:

4oz. cream cheese, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

½ tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbsps maple syrup

3-4 Tbs. milk (depending on desired consistency)

Directions:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in powdered sugar, vanilla, maple syrup and milk. Drizzle on cooled cookies.

Skirt Steak with a Chimichurri Sauce

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We had a few people over for dinner this past Friday night, and while I have heard that you are never supposed to serve something new at a dinner party, these were my best friends, so I thought that I could experiment on them.  Everything I made was a first time attempt.  It was a little nerve wracking, so I can see why people say not to do this.  However, things turned out very well, if I do say so myself.  I made skirt steak in a chimichurri marinade.  I had been served this at a dinner party over the summer, and it was amazing.  I googled chimichurri marinade, and several different recipes turned up.  The main difference between the recipes was the use of vinegar or not.  I chose one on www.epicurious.com that came from Bon Appetit.  It wasn’t until after I had read and reviewed about 15 different recipes and chosen this one as the best that I realized it was a Matt and Ted Lee recipe.  I should not be surprised as they are the best!  The only thing that I did slightly wrong was not leave the meat on the grill long enough.  I had bought about 4 lbs of meat in 2 pieces.  The directions I had read said to grill for 5 minutes per side.  I think my steaks were a little bit thicker but in fear of over cooking, I followed the 5 minute rule without checking the inside.  It was a little rare for my taste, but I put the middle section of the steak under the broiler for a few minutes, and it was great.  This is an awesome marinade and a delicious meal to serve- it will definitely be on my go to list!

Here is the recipe for the marinade.

Chimicurri Marinade

Ingredients:

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more
3–4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced or minced
1 shallot, finely chhttps://thesouthwillrise.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpopped
1 Fresno chile or red jalapeño, finely chopped*
2 cups minced fresh cilantro
1 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh oregano
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
*At Whole Foods, I could not find a Fresno chili or red jalapeno, so I got a green one.  It turns out there is no difference between a red and green jalapeno other than the color and season in which they are grown.*

Directions:

Combine vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, garlic, shallot, and chile in a medium bowl and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in cilantro, parsley, and oregano. Using a fork, whisk in oil. Remove 1/2 cup chimichurri to a small bowl, season with salt to taste, and reserve as sauce. Put meat in a glass, stainless-steel, or ceramic dish. Toss with remaining marinade. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Remove meat from marinade, pat dry, and grill.