Lebkuchen

The last of the traditional German cookies I made was Lebkuchen. The tartness in the glaze plays well against the spice in the cookie.

Lebkuchen (Lebkuchen)

Cookies:

1/2 C honey 

1/3 C white sugar 

2 Tbsp butter, melted 

2 eggs 

3 Tbsp orange marmalade 

1 tsp almond extract 

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp baking soda 

2 C flour 

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp allspice 

1 tsp cardamom 

Glaze:

2 Tbsp lemon juice 

1 C powdered sugar 

Cookies:

Blend honey, white sugar, butter, eggs, orange marmalade and extract together.  Add all dry ingredients and beat until smooth. 

On a greased cookie sheet (or lined with parchment paper), spoon cookie dough with tablespoon.  Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.  Cookies will be soft.  Cool on wire rack.

Glaze:

Combine sugar and lemon juice until smooth.  (Can add more or less sugar until you reach the desired consistency.)  Spread over cooled cookies. 


This recipe is altered slightly from www.oneacrevintagehome.com. 

Hausfreunde Cookies

These were my favorite cookies for our German Christmas! They take some work but for a special occasion they're worth it. Yum! I think you could get more cookies out of the dough than 48 (with an end result of more than 24) if you use a slightly smaller cookie cutter.  Be sure to watch them so you don't bake them too long, they should be just starting to brown around the edges. Also, there's no way you'll be able to knead all the powdered sugar into the marzipan so I'd say to start with about half of what it calls for and add a little at a time until you can't work any more in.  

Hausfreunde (Hausfreunde)

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 large egg, beaten

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

About 1/2 cup apricot jam

7 ounces almond paste or marzipan

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

5 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

24 walnut halves, toasted

INSTRUCTIONS

In a food processor, pulse the flour with the granulated sugar and salt. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea-size pieces remaining. Add the egg and vanilla and pulse until the dough just comes together. Scrape out onto a work surface and pat into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

 

Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough 1/4 inch thick. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out cookies as close together as possible; transfer to the prepared baking sheets. Gather the scraps, re-roll and stamp out more cookies. You should have a total of 48. 

Bake the cookies for about 15-20 minutes, until golden; rotate the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Transfer to a rack to cool.

 

In a small saucepan, warm the jam over moderate heat, stirring, until runny, about 3 minutes. Brush a thin layer of jam on 24 of the cookies and top with the remaining cookies. 

 

In a medium bowl, combine the almond paste with the confectioners’ sugar and knead until blended. Roll out the almond paste 1/8 inch thick between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out 24 rounds. 

Brush the top of each cookie sandwich with another thin layer of jam and top with the rounds of almond paste. 

In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the chocolate at high power in 30-second bursts until just melted. Stir until smooth. 

Spoon chocolate onto the top of each sandwich cookie and gently spread out to coat the almond paste; transfer to the baking sheet. Top each cookie with a walnut half. Let the chocolate set before serving. 

Pfeffernusse

For our German Christmas dinner I made several German cookies (for dessert, of course!). I had a recipe for pfeffernusse years ago that never worked and I've always wanted to find a better recipe and see what they're really like. The good news is they were great! Even with pepper in them (I've always been a little wary of that...).  They're the white cookies below:

Pfeffernusse (Pfeffernusse)

Spiced Sugar:

1 C powdered sugar 

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

Cookies:

3 C flour 

1 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg 

1/2 tsp fine salt 

1/4 tsp allspice 

1/4 tsp black pepper 

1/2 C sliced almonds, toasted (**we used a mix of almonds and pecans)

8 Tbsp butter (1 stick), at room temperature 

2 tsp packed finely grated lemon zest (from about 2 medium lemons) 

2 tsp packed finely grated orange zest (from 1 medium orange) 

1 C packed brown sugar 

1 egg

3/4 C honey 

Spiced Sugar:

Mix all ingredients together and set aside.

Cookies:

Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, salt, allspice, and pepper into large bowl; set aside. 

Place almonds in the bowl of a food processor fitted with blade attachment and process until finely ground, about 25-30 seconds.  Add the almonds to the flour mixture and stir to combine; set aside. 

Place butter, lemon zest and orange zest in bowl of stand mixer and beat on medium speed until fluffy and combined, about 1 minute.  Add the brown sugar and beat until incorporated and lightened in color, about 1 minute.  Add the egg and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds.  Add the honey and beat just until incorporated, about 1 minute. Scrape sides of bowl then with mixer on low, add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing just until combined, about 1 1/2 minutes total.  Do not over mix.  

Cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. 

Heat oven to 350.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside.  

Roll the chilled dough into 1” balls and space 1/2” apart on baking sheets.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Cool on cookie sheets for about 3 minutes until cool enough to handle but still warm.  Drop cookies into spiced sugar and coat completely, shake off any excess sugar.  Move to wire racks to cool completely.  

Store in airtight container, layered between with pieces of waxed paper, for up to 3 weeks. 

Coconut Chex Mix

This is super tasty, some say addictive, and easy to make. It calls for almonds but we were out so I used pecans and that was delish!  Sorry no picture - guess it was gobbled up before I thought of that.  Also, it isn't exactly a "healthy" snack so it's best made when there are lots of people to share with you.  ;)

5 C Chex (corn chex or rice chex)
3 C Crispix cereal
1 1/2 C almonds (or pecans!)
1 1/2 C shredded coconut
1 heaping cup pretzel sticks
2 C honey graham bears (think Teddy Grahams)

Syrup:
1/2 C butter
1 1/2 C light corn syrup
1 1/2 C granulated sugar
1/8 tsp baking soda

Combine all the cereals, nuts, coconut, pretzels and teddy grahams in a LARGE bowl.

Add butter to large saucepan over medium heat.  Once melted add corn syrup and sugar and stir well to combine.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and cook for 3 minutes, stirring.  Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.  Slowly pour syrup over the chex mix and use a wooden spoon to gently stir to coat.  Be sure to coat really well and pull up from the bottom of the bowl or it will pool up there.

Allow to cool before eating.** Store extra in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

**Next time I'll spread it out on buttered waxed paper on a cookie tray to cool because if you leave it in the mixing bowl it becomes one HUGE mass that can be hard to break into smaller pieces.

Cranberry Orange Bread

Dave is always asking for Cranberry Orange bread (or anything cranberry orange!) and I finally found a recipe and tweaked it up so that we both like.

Cranberry Orange Bread 

1 C cranberries 

Cinnamon sugar

2 C flour

3/4 C sugar 

1 1/2 tsp baking powder 

3/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/4 C butter, melted 

3/4 C orange juice 

Zest of 1 medium orange 

1 egg, beaten 

1/2 C chopped walnuts

Glaze:

1 C powdered sugar 

2-3 Tbsp orange juice

Chop cranberries; place in small bowl and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, stir and set aside. 

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a bowl.  Add melted butter, orange juice, orange zest and egg; mix well.  Fold in cranberries and walnuts.  Spoon batter into prepared pans. 

Bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  While bread is cooling, prepare glaze by mixing powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth.   Place waxed paper under cooling wrack.  Remove bread to cooling wrack and poke holes in the top with a toothpick.  Slowly drizzle glaze over top of warm bread.  Allow to cool completely before cutting.  

Makes 1 loaf

Pork with Chiles and Lime

This was a very tasty dinner.  We served it with warm tortillas.  I added a little corn starch mixed with water at the end to thicken the sauce.  If you remove the seeds from the jalapenos it won't be very hot...we didn't think it was hot at all.  I served it with a little additional lime zest, too.  And I forgot to buy cilantro so maybe we'll try that next time.  We also used pork tender loin because that's what we had on hand.  You could probably brown the meat and onions and then throw everything in the crock pot, too.  

Pork with Chiles and Lime

2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, OR boneless pork loin, cut into 1-inch pieces

3/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. oil

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 large jalapeno chiles, seeded and chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 14.5 oz. can chicken broth

1/4 C. cilantro, chopped

1/2 tsp. lime zest, grated

1/4 C. fresh lime juice

Lime wedges, as garnish, optional

Additional cilantro, chopped, as garnish, optional

Tortillas

Season pork cubes with salt and pepper.  Heat oil in large Dutch oven and saute pork in batches until nicely browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.  Transfer pork to a plate.  Stir in onion, chiles and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until onion is soft (or longer for caramelized onions).  Add pork back into pot, along with broth, cilantro, zest and juice.  Bring to a boil.  Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 1 1/4 hours, until meat is fork-tender and liquid has thickened.

Serve garnished with lime wedges and chopped cilantro with warm tortillas and black beans on the side.

Serves 6

Serving suggestions from the website:  In Mexico, pork is often cooked with lime and served with more lime.  This very flavorful, stew-like dish can be served with hominy, rice, or potatoes.  You can also add black beans and corn.  

Recipe altered slightly from porkbeinspired.com

Easy Clam Chowder

This was really easy and delicious.  I just used some bacon bits because I didn't have time to cook bacon tonight, so I stirred them in with the clams and half & half.

EASY CLAM CHOWDER

YIELD: 4 SERVINGS

 

PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES

 

COOK TIME: 30 MINUTES

TOTAL TIME: 45 MINUTES

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 slices bacon, diced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 3 (6.5-ounce) cans chopped clams, juices reserved
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 cup half and half*
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate, reserving 1 tablespoon excess fat; set aside.
2. Melt butter in the stockpot. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
3. Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk, vegetable stock, clam juice and bay leaf, and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in potatoes.
4. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 12-15 minutes.*
5. Stir in half and half and clams until heated through, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. If the soup is too thick, add more half and half as needed until desired consistency is reached.
6. Serve immediately, garnished with bacon and parsley, if desired.

Recipe altered slightly from http://damndelicious.net/2015/04/25/easy-clam-chowder/

Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

These cookies are definitely the best thumbprints I've had... I also used real vanilla extract and I think that made a big difference in the glaze.

http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/12/12/raspberry-almond-thumbprint-cookies/

Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies

yield: ABOUT 26 COOKIES

total time: 5 HOURS, 15 MINUTES (INCLUDES CHILLING & COOLING

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
• 2/3 cup (134g) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons (264g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)1
• 1/2 cup (160g) raspberry jam2

Icing

• 1 cup (120g) confectioners' sugar
• 1-2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) cream or milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract (optional)

Directions:

1. This cookie dough requires at least 4 hours for chilling and cookies must cool before glazing. Don't forget to plan ahead!
2. Make the cookies: Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Switch mixer to medium speed and add the the sugar, vanilla, and almond extracts. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Turn the mixer off and pour the flour into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed.  Press the dough down to compact it and tightly cover with plastic wrap to chill until firm, at least 4 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats (silicone mats preferred to reduce spreading). Shape the cookie dough into balls. Mine were about 1 Tablespoon of dough per ball. Make sure they're nice and smooth. If you find that the balls of dough are sticky and/or have gotten a little soft after rolling- place the balls of dough back into the refrigerator to firm up. You absolutely DO NOT want soft dough.3 Make an indentation with your thumb into each ball. The dough may crack slightly when you press your thumb into it. Simply smooth it out with your fingers if you can. Otherwise, it's perfectly fine to have a few cracks. Fill each with a scant 1/2 teaspoon of jam. (Or however much it can hold.)
4. Bake the shortbread thumbprint cookies for 14-15 minutes, or until very lightly browned on the edges. The cookies will puff up and spread slightly. Do not overbake.  In fact, I only baked mine for 13-14 minutes. I prefer them a little soft. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before glazing.
5. Make the glaze: Whisk the glaze ingredients together until smooth. Add more liquid to thin out or add more confectioners' sugar to thicken to your desired consistency. Drizzle over cooled cookies. Glaze will set within a couple hours.

Make ahead and storing: Store cookies covered at room temperature for 3 days or in the refrigerator for 6 days. Shortbread cookie dough can be frozen up to 2 months; baked cookies (without glaze) may be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Italian Slider Sandwiches

Italian Slider Sandwiches

Prep and or Rising time

20 mins

Cook time

12 mins

Total time

32 mins

Author: Melanie - Gather for Bread

Serves: 12 sandwiches

Ingredients

·         12 Hawaiian sweet dinner rolls

·         12 slices deli sandwich ham

·         12 slices pepperoni

·         12 slices salami

·         6 slices provolone cheese, cut in half

·         3 tablespoons butter, melted

·         ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning

·         ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

·         ¼ teaspoon onion powder

·         Pepperoncini

·         Red wine viegar, olive oil, salt and pepper

Instructions

1.    Slice top from rolls and place bottoms in baking pan.

2.    Spread red wine viegar/olive oil over bottom buns.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3.    Layer with ham, pepperoni, salami and half slice cheese on each roll. Place bun tops over cheese.

4.    Combine butter, Italian seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder and mix well. Using a pastry brush, spread over rolls.

5.    Pour or spread sauce over the rolls, just brushing the tops. Cover with foil. Let sit for 10 minutes.

6.    Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees.

7.    Bake for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncover and cook for additional 2 minutes until tops are slightly browned and crisp. Serve warm.

http://gatherforbread.com/italian-slider-sandwiches/

Salsa Verde Chicken Casserole

I guess we've been in the mood for Mexican food lately.  This casserole was really tasty, quick and easy.  I didn't use rotisserie chicken, I just used some of the chicken that we canned, and I flavored it with cumin, salt, pepper and ancho chili powder before I added everything together.  It originally called for chopped fresh tomatoes, but I just used a can of the Rotel tomatoes becuase I knew that Jeff would like those better than fresh.  I liked the addition of a little bit of green chile in there, too.



Salsa Verde Chicken Casserole

2 C. shredded rotisserie chicken
1 C. (8 oz) sour cream
1-1/2 C. salsa verde, divided
8 corn tortillas (6-inch)
1 can Rotel tomatoes w/ green chiles OR 2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1/4 C. minced fresh cilantro
2 C. shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Optional toppings: avocado slices, thinly sliced green onions or fresh cilantro leaves

Combine the chicken, sour cream and 3/4 C. salsa in a small bowl.  spread 1/4 cup salsa on the bottom of a greased 8 in. square baking dish.
Layer with half of the tortillas and chicken mixture; sprinkle with half of the tomatoes, half of the minced cilantro and half of the cheese.  Repeat layers with remaining ingredients, ending with the cheese.
Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and warm throughout.  Serve with remaining salsa and , if desired, optional toppings.  Yield: 6 servings

From TasteofHome.com

Old-Fashioned Colorado Green Chile

Jeff gives this 5 stars except I was instructed to cut the onions smaller next time.  Ok!
I bought a bag of frozen roasted, diced green chiles that were hot, but feel free to make it as mild as you want.


Old-Fashioned Colorado Green Chile

2 lbs. cubed pork shoulder
2 Tbsp butter (optional)
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp pepper
3 Tbsp flour
1 14-oz. cans diced tomatoes OR 2 C. diced fresh tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
1 C. water (adjust to your preference)
2 1/2 c. diced, roasted green chiles (about 20)
1/2 large onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Melt butter in large skillet.  Brown pork, garlic and pepper in skillet.  Add flour, stir and cook 2 more minutes.  Place all ingredients in a crock pot and cook onlow for 2 to 3 hours.
Serve with shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream and tortillas, if desired.
Makes 8 to 10 servings

Recipe altered slightly from the Denver Post.