Halloween Papercrafting

I'm still working on my pre-Halloween catch-up for my projects... and here's one of them:

In order to add a little Halloween flair to my salon picture-frame wall, I needed a few cool and appropriately themed images.  I filled some of the frames with creepy art that I love, but the rest I filled with some fun paper art that I...MADE MYSELF!  Some were free-handed (Frankenstein), others are from direct patterns for paper-crafting (the rats and the cat), and one was from a pumpkin carving pattern (the wolf howling).  All in all a very satisfying afternoon of work.

Oh!  A tip for doing this sort of papercrafting: Find small scissors.  I actually bought a nail set at the dollar store that included a small set of straight scissors and they worked perfectly for this sort of thing.  

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies

I know that I already wrote about the wonders of cake mix-based crinkle cookies, but this is experimental twist turned out really great!  

I have had some peanut better extract (yes!  peanut butter extract!!!!) from Watkins since I bought it at the Minnesota State Fair last year.  I just hadn't figured out how to use it.  Last week I was tidying up my spices and extracts on my counter and found a stray bottle top, which I threw away.  I thought it was from a bottle of vanilla that I had finished recently.  WRONG!  It was from my peanut butter extract, which luckily still had an intact seal. Ack!  Also luckily, however, I still had the empty vanilla bottle mixed in with my other stuff.  I washed it out as thoroughly as possible and transferred the peanut butter extract to it.

But now that the exotic PB extract was on my radar, I needed to figure out a way to use it.  I was already going to make a batch of cookies for my buddies working at the Half Price Books during the big November coupon sale, so I decided they would include PB flavor.  Crinkle cookies are always a favorite and they are pretty forgiving of small experiments, in my experience, so they were the perfect choice.  

Here are the details....

Ingredients:

• 1 Devil's Food cake mix 
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. Watkins Peanut Butter Extract 
• granulated sugar 

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees 
2. Mix cake mix, eggs, extract and oil with a spoon in a large bowl.  The dough will be a bit sticky.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in sugar. Granulated will make the cookies more sparkly and it is what I did in this case (mostly because peanut butter cookies usually have granulated on them!).  But you can certainly use powdered sugar, if you want
• Tip: A lot of people have written online about how the sugar "sinks" into the cookies as they bake and it isn't very visible in the finished product.  To help with this, roll all the balls in sugar and place on cookie sheet.  Then go back and roll each ball around in your hands again, embedding that layer of sugar into the cookie, and then immediately roll it in sugar again.  
4. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on ungreased or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set.
6. Cool for a minute or so on cookie sheet and then cool completely on wire rack or on waxed paper.  Or, if they are on parchment paper, just slide the parchment off onto a table or counter for cooling.   

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

 One of the great things about fall and winter gatherings is that you can fix warming foods...things that you couldn't dare serve in the middle of summer because the idea of turning on the oven in a house full of people in the heat is just unthinkable.

After I moved into my townhouse, I decided that I needed to start some traditions for my new home.  Since I have a deep and abiding love of all things Halloween, I have held a Halloween party for friends for the past two years.  One of the main dishes that I've served both years is an autumn soup.  It can be left to warm on the stove or in a crock pot, and people can eat more or less of it whenever they want.  Plus, there are so many hearty vegetarian options that it makes preparations for a diverse group of people much, much easier!

This year's soup was a butternut squash-apple variety and the recipe came from (though I'm a bit sad to admit it) Martha Stewart's online presence.  It was really good, simple to make, and warm both in temperature and from spices.  Also, the ingredients are the perfect fall produce combo and the recipe is really quite healthy.

I did not follow Martha's serving instructions, which included a fussy garnish of diced apples and jalapeno slices.  Instead I served it with some optional sour cream and AMAZING pumpkin-cornbread croutons that I got at Trader Joe's.

Seriously, these are the greatest and most unique croutons of all time.  It is like someone took the perfect fall day and somehow transformed it into crouton form.  Am I enamored?  Yes.  Absolutely.  Do I count on ever seeing these croutons in a store again?  No.  Of course not.  Trader Joe's discontinue everything that I truly love!

By the way, what follows is double the size of the original recipe.  So, if you don't want quite so much soup, this version should half down really well.  

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 medium onions/1 large onion, diced
• 2 butternut squash (about 4 pounds), peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 8 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (I used Haralsons and Galas, I think) 
• 4 tsp coarse salt
• 3 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
• 5 cups water, plus more if needed

Directions 

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. 
2. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to soften (about 4 minutes) 
3. Add squash and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft (about 10 to 12 minutes) 
4. Add apples, salt, cumin, coriander, ginger, cayenne, black pepper, stock, and just enough water to cover everything.  
5. Bring to a boil. 
6. Reduce to a simmer and cook until vegetables are very soft (about 30 minutes)
7. Puree in batches in a blender until smooth and return to saucepan. 
8. Heat over low, adding more water if the soup is too thick.   
9. Serve with croutons and/or a dollop of sour cream.

Poetry Pumpkin

This Halloween I decided that I would do a few projects that would be crafty but festive for my house.  I found all sorts of amazing things on Pinterest, including the idea of using sharpies to decorate pumpkins for indoor use.  Some people just drew on their pumpkins, some people wrote on their pumpkins, and some people did both (see below).  The basic idea is just to spray paint the pumpkin and then get creative with your sharpie pens!  

My pumpkin was also obviously silver, rather than white.  Mostly because I had silver spray paint already and thought it would look cooler.  I like the way it turned out, but writing on the silver was more difficult than it would have been if I had used a matte color spray paint.  It was also probably harder to read.  

As for what to put on the pumpkin: I can't really draw very well, but the idea of poetry on a pumpkin seemed perfect for me, what with my love of books and all.  I love, love, love Poe's poetry...and basically everything he ever wrote.  However, I already had a passage from Edgar Allan Poe hanging on my wall, so I decided to go for something a bit different: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Haunted Houses."  

I think that my decorative indoor pumpkin turned out really well.  I made sure to pick a pumpkin that was whole and firm, with no soft or damaged spots.  I also made sure it had an appropriately nifty stem, which I covered with newspaper during the painting process.  I spray-painted it (two coats) about a week and a half before Halloween and it was still in good shape over a week after.      

Here is the poem I used, if you're interested:  

Haunted Houses

 All houses wherein men have lived and died

Are haunted houses. Through the open doors

The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,

With feet that make no sound upon the floors.

We meet them at the door-way, on the stair,

Along the passages they come and go,

Impalpable impressions on the air,

A sense of something moving to and fro.

There are more guests at table than the hosts

Invited; the illuminated hall

Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,

As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The stranger at my fireside cannot see

The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;

He but perceives what is; while unto me

All that has been is visible and clear.

We have no title-deeds to house or lands;

Owners and occupants of earlier dates

From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,

And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

The spirit-world around this world of sense

Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere

Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense

A vital breath of more ethereal air.

Our little lives are kept in equipoise

By opposite attractions and desires;

The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,

And the more noble instinct that aspires.

These perturbations, this perpetual jar

Of earthly wants and aspirations high,

Come from the influence of an unseen star

An undiscovered planet in our sky.

And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud

Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,

Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd

Into the realm of mystery and night,—

So from the world of spirits there descends

A bridge of light, connecting it with this,

O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,

Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.

Ham-and-Swiss Savory Scones

At the same time that I tried the cinnamon-chip scones for the first time, I also tried this recipe for ham-and-swiss savory scones.  Like those others, it is based on a recipe I found online from Southern Living for Best Ever Scones.  Here's my version.

Oh, and the mustard butter was an experiment that was actually pretty good.  Definitely worth trying if you are a person that digs the flavor of mustard things.

Scone Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes  (unsalted)
• 1 cup 2% milk, divided (the original recipe called for heavy/whipping cream, but 2% worked great and I felt better about it)  
• 3/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 3/4 cup finely chopped ham

Scone Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°. 
2. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. 
3. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender/a fork until crumbly and mixture resembles small peas. 
4. Freeze 5 minutes. 
5. Add 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. milk, cheese, and ham, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.
6. Turn dough out onto wax paper; gently press or pat dough into a 7-inch round.
7. Use a sharp knife to cut dough into 8 wedges. 
8. Place wedges 2 inches apart on parchment paper.  
• Note: the original recipe said to bake these scones on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  I  recommend using parchment paper.  
9. Brush or pat tops of wedges with remaining milk, just until moistened.    
10. Bake at 450° for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden.
• Note: the original recipe also listed an option for Bite-Size Scones, but I haven't tried it yet.  They said: Pat dough into 2 (4-inch) rounds. Cut rounds into 8 wedges. Bake as directed for 12 to 13 minutes.

Mustard Butter:
Stir together 1/2 stick of butter and 1/2+ Tbsp. brown mustard.  Store refrigerated.

Cinnamon-Spiced Apple Bread

A few weeks ago someone from my division at work brought in a tremendously large bag of apples.  I have literally never seen that many apples in any place that wasn't a store or an orchard.  Apparently the person who brought them in also has a seasonal, part-time job at an orchard, and so getting ginormous bags of apples is a perk.  (Yum...that's an awesome job perk!)

People wandered by and marveled at the huge bag, usually taking a few with them when they left.  When I walked by I took 2 for eating, myself.  But by the end of the day there was still a ton of apples left.  I decided that I would take a bunch and bring back something baked and apple-filled to share.

While searching for a new recipe to try, I realized something: Unless you are talking about a pie (which I didn't want to make), most recipes with apples in them don't really use all that many apples.  Since I had what I will call "a whole lot" of apples at this point, I needed something brimming with appley-goodness.

I found this recipe, made a few changes, and it turned out amazing!  Moist, delicious, and the spices really ring through.  This bread pretty much tastes like a good fall bread should.

Also, the first time I made it, it was pretty wildly popular with everyone who had some.  The second time I made it was for the Recipe Challenge: Apple adventure at work, and I won the golden spatula trophy!  It now lives on my shelf for all to admire...until the next challenge (which may or may not be pumpkin).

Here's the how-to:

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 semi-mounded tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp Penzey's baking spice (optional)
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4+ cups chopped apples, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 1/4 cup raisins
• Cinnamon Sugar that is a bit heavy on the cinnamon (about 6 to 8 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon), for sprinkling on top of the bread.  
• Ingredient Notes: The original recipe called for 4 cups apples, 1 cup raisins, and 1 cup pecans.  I didn't have pecans, plus the fact that both raisins and nuts are divisive things in baked goods.  So, I decided to make it easy on myself and just use more apples and raisins and no nuts.  Undoubtedly this made the bread heavier and more moist, but it turned out so well that I think I'll just stick with my version.  I used my 2 cup pyrex measuring cup for the apples and filled the entire thing past the line to the top of the cup twice.  So I probably used more like 4 1/2 to 5 cups apples.  Also, I just threw some extra raisins in.  Also, the original called for only 2 tsp sugar mixed with 1/4 tsp cinnamon to sprinkle on top of both loaves.  Definitely use more!    

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Grease 2 9x5 loaf pans.
3. Line bottoms only of greased loaf pans with waxed paper and then grease the waxed paper
4. In one bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. 
5. In a *large* mixing bowl, whisk together sugar and oil.  
6. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until smooth, then stir in apples and raisins.  
7. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. 
8. Pour batter into pans, smoothing the top with a spatula or spoon. 
9. Bake for 20 minutes. 
10. Pull out rack and sprinkle loaves with the cinnamon sugar mixture. 
11. Continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
12. Cool in pan for at least 10 minutes.

• Note: this bread is delicious warm, but *will not slice nicely when warm,* especially if you add more fruit like I did and the chunks are truly coarsely chopped.  

Cinnamon-Chip Scones

Fall is my favorite season and with Halloween, cool days, crisp leaves, and my birthday in it, October is pretty much my favorite month.  It is always so busy for me and this year has been no exception.  I have been doing tons of baking, projects, and socializing, but have fallen way behind on my recording of stuff.  So now that it is November--and before the craziness of the winter holidays hits--I'm going to try to catch up some.

Part one of catching up is a recipe for some amazing scones.  I wanted to make scones for breakfast at work a while ago and stumbled across a link from Southern Living for Best Ever Scones.  What I really liked was that a basic recipe could be changed dramatically to get different results and that sweet and savory were both possibilities.  Of course, none of the options were exactly what I wanted, so I changed mine kind of a lot. Here's my version of the sweet: Cinnamon-chip scones with Brown-sugar-cinnamon butter

Scone Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1/3 cup sugar (plus a smidge more to sprinkle on top of scones)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or however much you like, I just kinda eyeballed it, to be honest)
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes  (unsalted)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
• 1 cup 2% milk, divided (the original recipe called for heavy/whipping cream, but 2% worked great and I felt better about it)  
• 1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Scone Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°. 
2. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. 
3. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender/a fork until crumbly and mixture resembles small peas. 
4. Freeze 5 minutes. 
5. Add 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. milk, vanilla, and cinnamon chips, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.
6. Turn dough out onto wax paper; gently press or pat dough into a 7-inch round.
7. Use a sharp knife to cut dough into 8 wedges. 
8. Place wedges 2 inches apart on parchment paper.  
• Note: the original recipe said to bake these scones on a lightly greased cookie sheet.  I made the recipe once with parchment and the scones baked perfectly.  Then I made them again on a greased cookie sheet and the bottoms were overdone to the point of being nearly burned.  It could have been the unfamiliar oven the second time, but I blame the lack of parchment.   
9. Brush or pat tops of wedges with remaining milk, just until moistened.  
10. Sprinkle a bit of sugar on top, if you like the look/flavor.  
11. Bake at 450° for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden.
• Note: the original recipe also listed an option for Bite-Size Scones, but I haven't tried it yet.  They said: Pat dough into 2 (4-inch) rounds. Cut rounds into 8 wedges. Bake as directed for 12 to 13 minutes.

Brown-Sugar Cinnamon Butter:
I totally forgot to bookmark where I saw the suggestion/recipe for the fancy butter.  But here is basically what I did.  Oh, and every recipe I see only for something similar calls for a whole stick of butter.  That is way too much for just a batch of scones, so I made half a stick's worth!

Soften 1/2 stick of butter.  Thoroughly mix in 2 packed Tbsp brown sugar and 2 to 3 tsp cinnamon.  Refrigerate.  

Wall o' Awesome aka Salon-Style Display of Framed Items

I have this wall in my house that is sort of betwixt-and-between.  It creates a sort of faux-hallway connecting my kitchen to my dining area and living room.  I have been thinking for a long time that a salon-style display would be perfect.  (You know, like in old European homes and museums, where frames of all kinds are hung close together, filling whole walls and showing off a huge amount of art all at once.)  Even though this was clearly a great idea, I hadn't really gotten around to trying to do anything, so the wall had been unadorned...until last Christmas.  I used the wall as a place to hang my holiday cards and a variety of winter/Christmas themed words cut out of fancy scrapbook papers. 

That wall looked totally awesome and I loved it!

And then came mid- January, when I could no longer pretend that keeping my bright and cheery decorations up was cool with the world as a whole.  (Ok, yeah. You're right.  It might have been late January.)  After the cards and the brightly colored words came down, the wall was just so....bland.  I started thinking of things I could do with it and I finally decided that the jammed together look was actually a good one.  You see the wall as you walk by it, but it faces in such a way that doing an old-world gallery/salon display wouldn't clutter up an actual room.  

After deciding to do this cool project, I needed to decide what would go on this wall.  I decided on two main utilitarian features: a whiteboard and a keyring holder (which I will describe in future posts).  The I had to find the components for my wall: a wide variety of sizes and styles of picture frames.  

The largest frame was for the whiteboard, and I got it and some others from my mom, who was cleaning out her house.  A fancy-looking-but-made-of-plastic frame  was purchased on clearance and with a coupon from Kohl's.  And all the others were purchased for super-cheap from thrift stores.  I just kept my eyes open for interesting designs, shapes, etc.  Condition didn't matter so much, because I knew that I would be painting them.  And what was in them was completely irrelevant because I wanted to put my own stuff in the frames, anyway.  (The oval frame was a particularly good find, but it had a religious poem in it that had the store selling it as "art" and not just the frame.)  The Kohl's frame was $6, but most were in the $1 to $1.50 range and I'm pretty sure that the most paid for any other frame was $3.00.  Here they all are:

Once I had the frames, I needed to make them look like they belonged together.  I thought about painting them all the same color, but then decided that wasn't the best option.  Instead I purchased 3 different spray paints: a pale grey, a darker grey, and a metallic silver.  The paint I used was a Rustoleum paint+primer that would stick to metal, wood, plastic, etc. 

I took the frames apart, and for those that I couldn't get the glass out of, I covered the glass with paper and scotch tape.  

I decided what color to paint each of the frames, then laid them out on a drop-cloth on my garage floor.  And I opened the garage door, obviously.  

I then spray painted the frames with 2 to 3 coats each.  I tried to do light coats, but I'm not a super-proficient spray-painter at this point, so they were probably heavier than I should have done.  I let them dry for a full day, then moved them inside and let them cure out some more.  

Before I painted the frames, I cut paper shapes (out of old wrapping paper) for each. Then I used them to plan the set-up of the wall.  Here's the plan, in situ:

After getting everything painted and planned, I purchased a variety of 3M Command picture hangers.  They work sort of like locking velcro, but come off the walls and frames like the Command poster adhesives I used in college.  The idea behind the purchase being that they would allow me to keep from putting tons and tons or holes in my wall.  In addition, since they are supposed to be long-lasting, I should be able to take the frames down and change the imagery fairly frequently.  

After getting the hangers up, it was October and time for Halloween decorations.  So instead of putting regular photos and images in the frames, I put creepy artwork (including Munch's "Vampire," Delaroche's "The Execution of Lady Jane Grey," and Fuseli's "Nightmare"), an Edgar Allan Poe "Raven" excerpt, and some paper-crafted stuff (fangs, werewolf, Frankenstein, a black cat, etc.).  

The final project is at the top of this blog post.   My finished, custom gallery wall.  I love it and it will be a great way of displaying photos, art prints/postcards gathered on museum visits, and other stuff that I want to be able to see and share.  

Almost Instant Hutch Update: Green is the New Orange!

An extremely generous co-worker and friend gave me a hutch several months ago.  I absolutely loved it, and not just because of the low, low price point!  It is beautiful, with two glass shelves, a light, and windowed doors in a top area that is perfect for displaying breakables like my hurricane lanterns and some of my great-grandmother's china.  On bottom there is a solid single-doored area for storage.  It is an old-fashioned and genuinely lovely piece of furniture.

OK, except for one thing: at some point someone painted the original back of the hutch orange.  Really, really orange.  And streaky, because they didn't spring for multiple coats of paint to get it even.

I lived with the orange for a while, thinking I would paint the back when I made some other decisions about painting my cheap living room furniture.

Eventually, I realized that I didn't want to do what the previous owners did.  Just painting over the orange wouldn't bring back the niceness of wood grain, and if I wanted to change it later I would just be adding more coats of paint.

Enter my genius plan: cover the orange with fabric!  I found a great microsuede-like fabric in a dark green that was very similar to the fabric covering my living room chair and ottoman.  I used simple push pins (though I had to hammer them into the hard wood) to attach it, then put the glass shelves back into their original positions.  I think it turned out really nice.  It is colored, but is sort of neautral in that coloring...and I can change it quickly and easily anytime I want to!

Retro Recipes: Fruit Cocktail Cookies

 

The second recipe of the two that I completed for the Nom-Nom Baking Challenge at Work was for Fruit Cocktail Cookies (see the first recipe here).  I always loved fruit cocktail as a kid--the cherries were my favorite part--so it seemed like something worth trying.

I'll put the original recipe and then my modern, updated version with more information that might help people who aren't experienced bakers or who aren't used to using old recipes.

Three things to note about this recipe:

• The cookies, as I made them, turned out kind of like little fruit cakes in texture.
• The original recipe said that the raisins and nuts were optional.  I added them and some extra cherries leftover from making the Cherry Nut Loaf.  I would not recommend leaving them out; I think the cookies would be really bland without them.  And if you do leave them out, you should definitely swap them for other fruit and/or nuts. 
• This recipe is really large; I made nearly 6 dozen cookies and still had some extra dough.
• I didn't have any cloves, so I made do with a combo of other spices that I have.  

Original Recipe, as it appeared in Adventures in the Kitchen, the 1954 Waverly Lutheran Church Cookbook:
1 c. shortening
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
3 beaten eggs
1 c. raisins (may omit)
2 c. well drained finely diced fruit cocktail
1 1/2 c. nuts (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla
Sift together 1 tsp. soda, 1 tsp. B. P., 4c. flour, 1 tsp. each of cloves and cinnamon.  Mix well.  Drop by teaspoonful on lightly greased cookie sheet, Bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned.

--Mrs. Sanford Anderson

Modern Version:

Ingredients:

• 1 c. margarine
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 3 beaten eggs
• 1 c. raisins or other dried fruit (craisins would probably be yummy!)
• 2 c. well drained, finely diced fruit cocktail (this is more than 1 can, but less than 2)
• 1 1/2 c. chopped nuts (I used walnuts)
• 1/4 c. (or more) chopped maraschino cherries
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• dash of salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 4c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1 tsp. Penzey's baking spice   

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  
2. Cream together margarine, white sugar, and brown sugar.  
3. Mix in eggs and vanilla.  
4. Mix in all fruit and nuts.  
5. In a separate bowl, sift together salt, baking powder, baking soda, flour, and all spices.  
6. Mix dry and wet ingredients together.  
7. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet (I used foil sprayed with Pam spray on cookie sheets).  
8. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until lightly browned.  

Retro Recipes: Cherry Nut Loaf

At work we have an email group called NomNomNom, also known as "Where the Treats At?"  In general, people send announcements when there is left-over party food or if someone has a big batch of a work treat to share.  However, every once in a while, we have a special event.  For the end-of-summer, we had our first bake-off challenge.

Since we work for a Historical Society, selecting historical recipes made sense.  We have a huge collection of cookbooks from all over Minnesota and who doesn't like to muddle through less-than-exact directions?

The organizer picked the book Adventures in the Kitchen, a 1954 cookbook compiled by the women of the Waverly Lutheran Church.  Participants could make any of the cookies, bars, pies, or quick breads/muffins.  I chose to make two recipes: Cherry Nut Loaf and Fruit Cocktail Cookies.  The first is described below and the second is in another post on this blog.

I'll put the original recipe and then my modern, updated version with more information that might help people who aren't experienced bakers or who aren't used to using old recipes. Oh, yeah, and my recipe has more cherries than the original.  Why?  'Cause I like cherries.

Original Recipe:
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
5 oz. jar of chopped maraschino cherries or 1/3 cup cherries and 1/4 c. juice
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. B.P.
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. nut meats chopped
Beat sugar and eggs until light, add cherry juice and dry ingredients alternately.  Add cherries and nuts. Bake 1 hour in 350 degree oven

--Mrs. Ollie Kleinschrodt

--Mrs. Orville Peterson

--Mrs. J. H. Holland 

(Guest Cooks)

Modern Version:

Ingredients:

• 1 c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 of a 10 oz. jar of chopped maraschino cherries, drained and chopped plus 1/4 cup reserved drained juice 
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. nuts, chopped (I used walnuts this time)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
2. Whisk eggs and sugar together until well mixed and light/fluffy.  
3. In another bowl, stir together dry ingredients
4. Alternately add cherry juice and dry mixture.
5. When well blended, stir in cherries and nuts.  
6. Lightly grease sides and bottom of standard loaf pan
7. Bake loaf 45 to 60 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the center of the loaf.  My loaf was not done at all when I checked it after 40 minutes, but probably slightly overdone when I checked it at 50 minutes.  
8. Let cool, loosen edges, and remove loaf from pan. 

Sweet and fruity chicken salad

I have been making and tinkering with the following fruity chicken salad recipe for several years.  It is based on a Hungry Girl recipe called Sweet 'n Chunky Chicken Salad.  The idea is that it is sort of like a Waldorf salad, but I like to think of it as a totally different thing.  My version has more fruits and veggies than the original, making it less saucy.  None of the amounts in the ingredients are exact, it is definitely a "to taste" thing.  

I have added walnuts to it, topped a sandwich with avocado, added extra salt and pepper to the top of it, eaten it straight out of the bowl with a fork, and other serving variations.  I've also made it without any mayo (when I just didn't have any in the house) and without any sweetener (because I forgot, but it was still pretty good!).  It is filling and a great way to use yummy fruits and veggies to make a healthy lunch.  

Here it is:

Ingredients:

• About 1 cup cooked and chopped skinless chicken breast (rotisserie chicken makes it extra-tasty!)
• 1/2 to 1 cup peeled, chopped cucumber
• 1/2+ cup seedless red grapes, halved
• 1/2+ cup chopped apple (usually I just cut up half to 3/4 of a medium to large sized apple)
• 1/4 cup (heaping) plain, fat free, Greek yogurt 
• 2 Tbsp light or fat free mayo
• 1 packet Splenda
• 1/2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
• dash salt
• pepper and more lemon pepper, to taste

 Directions:

1) Mix yogurt, mayo, Splenda, salt, pepper, and lemon pepper.

2) Stir in chicken, coating evenly

3) Stir in remaining ingredients

4) You can eat this right away, or you can let the flavors mellow a bit in the fridge.  

This makes 2 really large servings.

Photos of chicken salad are never really gonna look that appealing, but here is an example:

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Nutella Glaze

A colleague from work is leaving because she just got a super-cool new professional gig at another institution  in the city.  She'll do really great there, but she will certainly be missed at out work.  And what better way to say "Congrats and Good Luck!" than sharing baked goods, right? :)

I did a little multiple-choice form-and-flavor questioning to find the best thing for the last day celebration.  She picked cake and chocolate and mentioned that Nutella was a good thing in her book. 
 

Then I did some online recipe searches and found the following on OneDollarCottage.com.  Well, a version of it, anyway...this has my edits and changes.  

It turned out really good!  Lots of compliments and positive reviews from everyone.  The cake was moist and dense, and the glaze was really chocolate-y.  (Actually, the glaze was really thick, so it didn't turn out quite as delicately decorative as I initially wanted.  But it ended up looking pretty nice and tasting so good, that I forgive it for being a bit hard to work with.)

Plus, bundt cakes always look really special and fancier than sheet cakes.  And people can cut small slivers or big chunks, depending on how people feel  

Cake Ingredients:

• 1 box of Devil’s Food Cake Mix
• 1 box of instant chocolate pudding
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup sour cream (I actually used light sour cream, because then I will use the left overs in my cooking in the next day or so.  It worked perfectly.)
• Mini chocolate chips, about 1 1/2 cups or so

Cake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Grease bundt cake pan. 
3. Combine ingredients in a bowl
4. Mix with a mixer (or a spoon and then a whisk, like I did) for about 2 minutes; batter will be really, really thick.  
5. Add chocolate chips, and fold in by hand. 
6. Put batter into pan and spread/shake to even it out a bit. 
7. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a cake tester stuck in the center comes out clean. 
8. Turn out onto a plate.  
9. Add glaze while warm.  

Glaze Ingredients:

• 1/2 of a 12 oz. jar hazelnut-chocolate spread (usually this means Nutella, but I had a 20% off coupon for the Hershey's version.  Since this is for the glaze, the difference in texture between the types of spreads shouldn't matter)
• 1/3 of a stick of butter/margarine (I used the second, 'cause that's what I had in my fridge)
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla, or so

The original recipe called for a full jar of Nutella and a full stick of butter.  I just wanted to have a drizzle-glaze, rather than a full-cake-glaze, so less seemed like a good idea.  And a lower ratio of butter--while making it thicker--also made it more Nutella-like.  I definitely recommend less-is-more (butter) in this circumstance!  

Glaze Directions:

1. Put spread and margarine in a microwave-safe bowl.  Heat slowly on a medium to medium-high setting until melted.  (You could also do this on the stove in a medium or small saucepan.)
2. Stir together
3. Add vanilla
4. Whisk together
5. Drizzle over warm cake

Almond chocolate-chip shortbread cookies

Two weeks ago I went to see some Scottish music at a 9 Nights of Music event. (9 nights of music is free to all and takes place at the Minnesota History Center on Tuesday nights in the summer.  If you haven't been, you should try it!)

Since I had friends coming to hear the music with me I decided to make them a Scottish dessert.  My favorite is sticky-toffee pudding, but that is more of a winter/fall thing and since it is best served warm, it wasn't the perfect thing.  

I ended up making shortbread cookies.  Something that is highly portable, almost universally enjoyed, and easy to change depending on what you like to add as mix-ins.  They can also be easily fancied up with chocolate drizzle or coating, or by rolling the edges in sugars or nuts.  Super simple, but also super versatile.  And very, very Scottish!

I particular, I made almond shortbread rounds with mini chocolate chips.  I've used all sorts of recipes before, but this time I adapted from Martha Stewart's Ice-box Shortbread recipes and made the recipe that appears below.   

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (in all honesty, I only had margarine and not butter in my fridge, so I used that instead.  The shortbread was still delicious)
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (or more to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (next time, I'm going to leave this out, I think.  My other shortbread recipes don't have salt unless the other flavors involved really call for it)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling
• about 1/2 cup or a bit more of mini chocolate chips.  

Directions

1. Mix/beat together butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt, until smooth.  
2. Add flour, mixing just until dough forms
3. Stir in chocolate chips
4. Divide dough in half and place each half on floured parchment paper
5. With floured hands, roll each dough portion into a log, about 1 1/2 inch in diameter.
6. Wrap logs in the paper and refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour). 
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
8. Unwrap log and slice dough into about 3/8 inch thick rounds.
9. Put rounds on parchment paper covered baking sheet, about 1 inch apart
10. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges
11. Cool on baking sheet for a few minutes and then remove to cool completely 

Hint: I baked one log of dough the day I made it and the other I pulled out of the fridge and baked the next morning.  However, if you plan on storing the dough for longer, I would wrap the parchment in saran wrap or put in in a ziploc bag to keep it from drying out too much.   

Blueberry-Banana Bread

I was looking in my fridge last week and realized that I had a whole pint of blueberries that I didn't know I had.  They sorta of ended up shoved behind something else and I had forgotten about them.  I looked closer at them and discovered that they where still mostly good.  Maybe not the best for eating one-by-one, but definitely perfect for baking.

 

I also happened to have a few mushy bananas and so I wanted to make banana-blueberry cupcakes for a gathering later this week.  You'd be surprised at the number of people trying to call muffins "cupcakes." Hello! They are very different things, with different textures and crumb.  Yeah.  Well.  I wasn't going to be fooled.

Instead I decided to go with an easier-to-wash-the-pan option and just make a banana-blueberry bread.  The normal, classic recipe that I have for banana bread works fine with nuts or chocolate chips, but I was worried about how well it would stand up to the juiciness of fresh berries.  So I went to the great and powerful internet to find instructions. 

Some of the options I found online looked ridiculous or overly fussy.  The one I settled on is from Giada DiLaurentis and I then made a few tweaks so what I did is as written below. It turned out well: moist, solid, with good fruit flavor and berries throughout.  I'm adding this to my repertoire and think that a strawberry or raspberry experimental version might also turn out well. 

Ingredients:

• Pam spray to grease the pan (or butter or some other kind of shortening 
• 1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour (plus a smidge extra for flouring the pan) 
• 1 tsp. baking soda 
• 1 tsp. salt 
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon (I did a slightly heaping teaspoon) 
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg 
• 5 or so good sprinkles of Penzey's baking spice (totally optional, but I'm adding it to anything with cinnamon and/or nutmeg these days) 
• 1 cup sugar 
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil 
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten 
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract (I used my double-strength vanilla) 
• 2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 3/4 cup of banana) 
• about 1 cup of fresh blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Grease and flour a standard loaf pan (9x5x3 inches)
3. In one bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking spice
4. In a second bowl, whisk/beat sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla, until well blended
5. Stir bananas and blueberries into sugar/oil/eggs mixture
6. Add dry mixture and stir until blended
7. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake about 1 hour or until cake tester comes out clean (Note: your loaf pan could make this time much longer or much shorter, depending on the material and exact dimensions.)
8. Cool loaf in pan for 15 or 20 minutes and then turn out to cool on a plate or wire rack. 
9. Cool completely before cutting. 

Chocolate-Double-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since my last attempt to make cookies from scratch was foiled by a lack of sugar, this recipe was a good experiment in returning to purely homemade.  They were made as a moving day treat for a Saturday when I was helping out a friend.  

The original basis for the recipe was Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Chip Cookies, but since I was making it for others I left out the nuts that it calls for and added more chocolate chips.  I also made sure to add two sizes and types of chocolate chips. I almost always like nuts, especially in chocolate cookies or brownies, but I never know who is allergic or just doesn't like nuts in their cookies.

These turned out really good.  I think that the dough would be a good basis for various flavored chips, as well.  Peanut butter, butterscotch, white chocolate, etc. would probably each be yummy....

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa, unsweetened
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened (I used margarine)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips (I used mini semi-sweet)
• 1 cup chopped nuts, optional (but I used an extra 1/2 to 3/4 cup chocolate chips, instead)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°F.
2. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. 
3. Cream butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl on medium speed.
4. Add eggs and beat well. 
5. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. 
6. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if you are using them.  
7. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
8. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. 
9. Cool slightly, then remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely. 

Makes between 4 and 5 dozen cookies.  

Cheap, Cute, and Movable Porch Lighting

I bought some fun solar-powered lights as a gift for a family member's front garden, and while shopping for them I got a little jealous.  See, I have a back porch/deck that is above my townhouse's garage.  I like to sit on it during the day, but I think it might be nice to sit out there in the evenings as well (probably with some kind of mosquito-repelling candle or device and a beverage of some kind).  The problem is that the "official" light on my porch is a bit glaring and I really wanted something nicer to sit under that wouldn't work quite so hard against my mosquito candle/device.  So the problem was: how can I have cute lighting on my porch that would be more subtle than my light fixture that is out there?  And could it also be cheap, please?

To be honest, the first idea I had involved string lights, AKA "Christmas lights" for those of you who are biased against using them during non-winter seasons.  However, it seems that unless you are in college or a Gretchen Wilson fan, it isn't *actually* cool or subtle to leave up Christmas lights all year long.  Geez!  People sure can be judgemental, huh?        

Next I thought: Hey!  I have containers on my porch that are growing tomatoes and snapdragons and geraniums.  I could just jam some cute solar lights in those!  Well, yeah.  I could have.  However, to move the lights I would then have to move the flowers as well.  Didn't wanna do that.  I realized that portability was also a factor.  

The third iteration of thought was that I could fill different flower pots with plain dirt and "plant" my lights.  This seemed like a winning idea, but would then involve me having to deal with the pot o' dirt in the off-season for porch sitting.  Since the off-season is most of the year in Minnesota, that seemed like a lot of trouble.  Add ease of storage to the list of requirements.    

Then I saw a fun idea on Pinterest that showed turning a terracotta flower pot upside down and putting the stake for a solar light in the hole, making the pot essentially a freely movable stand for the light.   This was perfect.  Genius even!  Except....

I went to Menard's and none of the solar lights would fit in the puny little holes in the pots.  Unless I bought huge and expensive pots.  Grrr!  No!  On the spot I decided I would triumph over this project.  Terracotta pots be damned!  

The solution was surprisingly easy...and located on the end-cap of the terracotta pot aisle: plastic pots.  I selected super-cheap pots (like $0.89 each) that matched the turquoise of my chair cushion and other porch accessories, and I bought cheap but well-enough-made solar lights ($2.49 each on sale).  Then I came home and cut a hole in the bottom of each pot--very carefully using a box cutter--to fit the stakes on the lights.  

The light/stand combo worked with only one problem: the plastic pots were much lighter than terracotta, so the lights-in-pots were fairly top heavy.  That was solved by duct-taping a few rocks from my front garden to the inside edge of the pots.  Three rocks per light and the finished product has been stable through wind and rain.  

And--Voila!--I now have three light-weight, easily-movable, easy-to-store, sustainable, and fun lights for my back porch.  All for under $10.  Yay!  Now all I need is a free night at home to go out and enjoy them....

  

Easy Lemon Crinkle Cookies

This past weekend I was going to make some cookies from scratch for a gathering...but then I realized that I only had about 2 Tablespoons of regular sugar in my sugar container.  oops!  I could've made something like shortbread that didn't use very much sugar.  Or I could've found a recipe that used powdered sugar instead of granulated.  

Instead, I did something that combined the two: I made lemon crinkle cookies out of a cake mix, with powdered sugar on the outside to make the crinkles.  

Normally chocolate is the classic flavor for crinkle cookies.  But I like lemon, too.  And for summer, I like citrus a lot.  (See past posts about orange cake and lime pie....)  Ultimately, you can make crinkle cookies of any flavor using different cake mixes with or without additional flavors.  Just find a standard cake mix that calls for 3 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, and 1 cup water.  Then just follow the super-easy recipe below:

Ingredients:

• 1 cake mix 
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• granulated or powdered sugar 

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees 
2. Mix cake mix, eggs, and oil with a spoon in a large bowl.  The dough will be a bit sticky.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in sugar.  I usually use powdered sugar, but granulated will make the cookies more sparkly.  Both taste really great!
4. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set.
6. Cool for a minute or so on cookie sheet and then cool completely on wire rack.   

Key Lime Pie: Tasty Imperfection

We traditionally have a key lime pie for my Dad for Father's Day.  They are cool, creamy, and taste like summer.  Plus, he's a fan of limes and lime stuff and there really aren't that many standard lime-flavored desserts out there.  When I was a lot younger, my brother and I would buy pies from Baker's Square...Key Lime used to always be the flavor-of-the-month for June.  Well, times have changed in two major ways.  First, finding a Baker's Square that is still open can be a challenge. :( Second, I figured out that I could make a key lime pie really easily and it could be just as good or better than the ones we bought.    

Over the years, I have tried a number of varieties; tequila key lime pie was a notable success.  They almost always turn out beautiful looking and delicious tasting.  I say "almost" because this year was a huge exception.  I used my very-traditional, standard recipe and the pie was **super-tasty**, but it didn't look good at all.  This is due entirely to the fact that I rushed and didn't give the pie enough time to cool and set before transporting it from my place to my foks'.  Usually I make the pie the day before, but this time I tried to do it all the day of.  Lesson learned!  With a little bit of fresh lime garnish, some individual pieces didn't look *too* bad (see above), but the pie itself looked pretty sad (see below).    

Here's the recipe. This is one that I developed myself from several different sources and through trial and error, so nobody is gonna get credit on it! And let me tell you: one of the biggest secrets is the crust.  You can use store-bought graham cracker crust to cut down on time and effort and the pie will be good.  But the homemade crust is way, way better.  Trust me!  

Oh, and be sure to let everything cool and set completely before transporting!  :)

Cookie/cracker crumb crust 

(can be altered for use in a variety of pie types, depending on the crumbs used)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 to 2 cups fine cookie or graham cracker crumbs: for key lime I generally use grahams and this time I crushed up 24 two and half inch cracker squares. 

1/4 cup granulated or powdered sugar (I usually use granulated sugar)

5 1/2 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional--but honestly, not optional for a graham cracker crust. I always add the cinnamon if the crumbs are grahams.  ALWAYS.

a few shakes of Penzey's baking spice, completely optional--this was a new addition this time, but a good one

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. If you haven't made your crumbs, do that.  You can use fancy pre-made ones, but why?!  You can also use a food processor, I guess.  But I don't have one of those new-fangled gadgets.  I generally put my crackers in a gallon Ziploc bag and use a heavy rolling pin to crush them.  Don't have a rolling pin?  I used a full 2-liter bottle of root beer as a crushing tool this time.  Seriously.  It works like a charm. :)
3. Mix crumbs, sugar, and spice (and everything nice....?)
4. Pour in melted butter and mix thoroughly
5. Press into bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate/pan
6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes
7. Cool to room temp before adding key lime filling (or set the crust by refrigerating until room temp. or slightly cooler....at least 30 minutes)

Pie

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz., can use regular or fat free equally well)

3/4 cup lime juice (can be fancy key lime juice, but RealLime bottled juice works really well)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Separate eggs

In large bowl, beat egg yolks (or whisk by hand)

Add sweetened condensed milk, stirring constantly.

Add lime juice slowly, still mixing at low speed (or whisking gently by hand), until it thickens

Pour it into room temperature pie crust and bake for 15 minutes.

Chill in refrigerator before serving (or transporting!)

Notes on Garnish:

I like whipped cream on my key lime pie, but it doesn't usually look too fancy or neat when I add it.  Better for formal/presentation garnish are slices of fresh lime.  Just wash a lime, make some slices, and then create garnish.  Simple half or quarter slices look nice when placed on a whole pie in patterns.  The piece pictured above is garnished with a full slice that was cut half-way through on one side and then twisted.  Plop that sucker on top of a piece and any number of ills are covered up!