Eggnog-Cinnamon Scones

I know that these sound a little odd, but trust me - they are so stinkin' good.  I haven't actually made them yet.  Some friends brought some to us this winter and I finally remembered to ask her for the recipe.
I could eat the whole recipe myself but I guess I'll share when I make them.  : )

Eggnog-Cinnamon Scones

2 3/4 C. flour
1/4 C. sugar
3/4 t. salt
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 C. unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and well chilled
6.6 oz. cinnamon chips (2/3 of a Hershey's bag)
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 t. rum extract
1 C. cold eggnog
Turbinado sugar

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  With a wide whisk, work in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly.  Stir in the cinnamon chips.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla, rum extract, and eggnog.
3. Add the egg mixture to the dry mixture and stir until all is moistened and holds together.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface (or use a silicone mat).  Divide the dough in half.  Roll and pat each half into a 6 1/2" circle about 3/4" think.
5. Run a large knife under cold water and slice each circle into 6 or 8 wedges.  Transfer wedges to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Carefully separate the wedges just a little bit (about 1/2")
6. Brush each scone with some eggnog and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar.
7. Preheat the oven to 425°.  Bake scones for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.  Each scone should look baked all the way through - no wet edges.
8. While the scones are baking, prepare the glaze:

4 T. butter
3/4 c. powdered sugar
Eggnog, to thin the mixture

1. Heat butter in a small saucepan until it melts, then continue cooking until the butter browns.  Remove from heat, and whisk in powdered sugar until mixture is thick.
2. Add eggnog, a little bit at a time, until mixture is smooth and spreadable.
3. Remove scones from the oven and cool briefly on the pan.
4. Glaze scones.  Use a fork to drizzle the glaze across the top of each scone.
5. Serve warm.  Let leftovers cool completely, then cover with plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

(They're still delectable even when they're not warm.)

Strawberry Spinach Salad

We made this salad last night - so easy and a perfect taste of spring! The original recipe calls for blue cheese but not everyone in my house likes that so I used feta and it was great.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

 

Dressing

¼ C white vinegar

½ C vegetable oil

1/3 C white sugar

½ Tbsp poppy seeds

1/8 tsp onion powder

½ tsp Worcestershire sauce

¼ tsp paprika

Salad

1 bag baby spinach

1 C sliced or quartered strawberries

1 (4oz) package crumbled feta cheese or blue cheese

½ C pecan halves

Whisk dressing ingredients together in small bowl until sugar is completely dissolved. 

Layer spinach, strawberries, cheese and pecans on serving plates.  Drizzle with dressing.  Enjoy!

**This makes plenty of dressing – store in refrigerator until needed again.

Altered slightly from a recipe on allrecipes.com.

Irish Apple Cake

I made this tasty treat for dessert tonight, since it's St. Patrick's day and all.
I have to say, the custard sauce didn't turn out very well for me, and Jeff didn't love it (the sauce) but the cake is good.  I liked it with the sauce but I admit it wasn't the best custard sauce ever...if you have a tried and true recipe for a good custard sauce, by all means, use it.  This is a really rustic cake with big chunks of apples and I loved the clove and nutmeg in the dough.  I wasn't sure how mine would turn out, because once I mixed it all together it didn't seem like there was much dough but it turned out great.

Irish Apple Cake

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 3 C. Flour
• 2 t. Baking Powder
• 1/8 t. Salt
• 1/4 t. Cloves, ground
• 1/4 t. Nutmeg, ground
• 6 oz. Butter, (cold is fine)
• 3/4 C. Sugar
• 4 large Granny Smith apples(I used golden delicious to great effect)
• 2 Eggs
• 3/4 C. Milk
• 2 T. Sugar(for sprinkling on top of cake)
• FOR THE CUSTARD:
• 6 large Egg Yolks
• 6 T. Sugar
• 1 1/2 C. Whole Milk
• 1 1/2 t. Vanilla

Instructions

1. FOR THE CAKE:
2. Grease and flour an 8" or 9" round springform pan. Using an 8" pan will give you a taller cake.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cloves and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl. Make sure the bowl is very large to allow room for the apples to be folded in.
5. Cut the butter into the flour using your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.
6. Add the 3/4 C. sugar to the flour mixture and mix in.
7. Peel the apples and slice them into uniform pieces. This cake works best and gets that 'chunky apple look' if the slices are about 1/4" wide and then cut into 3 pieces.
8. Toss the apples into the flour mixture and combine them thoroughly.
9. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and milk together. Add to the apples and flour and mix in with a large spatula until just combined. Batter will be thick and dough-like.
10. Transfer the dough into the prepared cake pan and flatten the top surface using the back of your spatula.
11. Sprinkle the sugar over the top of the cake.
12. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Test the center for doneness. The top of the cake should be golden brown. Serve slices with custard sauce.
13. FOR THE CUSTARD SAUCE:
14. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale yellow, 2-3 minutes. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and bring just to a boil. Slowly whisk the hot milk into the egg/sugar mixture. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and stir over medium heat until custard thickens, about 4 minutes. Custard should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Mix in the vanilla. Transfer to bowl or serving saucer.
15. Serve warm or cold over apple cake.

I used the instructions from http://thekitchenmccabe.com because they were more clear-cut and to the point, but the recipe is originally from http://www.irishamericanmom.com/2013/03/01/kerry-or-irish-apple-cake/.  I think you should check out the irishamericanmom.com site if you're interested in reading about the origins of the recipe.  I like learning about the food from other countries.  And I also like eating food from other countries.  : ) 

Chocolate Orange Marble Cake

You know the chocolate oranges or those chocolate orange sticks you can get at Christmas time? This is those in cake form. It is SO good! Like eat-it-slowly-and-savor-each-bite good.

Cameron wanted a marble cake for his birthday and when I Googled recipes I was surprised to find that many of them were from international sites. Who knew that marble cakes were an international thing? Others were baked as a loaf. Not what I was looking for. So I was glad when I found this and it sounded delicious. And it was!

Image from Blackbookkitchendiaries

Chocolate Orange Marble Cake
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. vanilla yogurt
3 T. orange zest (one large orange)
3 T. orange juice
1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 oz. unsweetened or semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two round cake pans.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla, yogurt, orange zest and juice; mix well.

Sift the dry ingredients together and stir into the wet mixture just until combined. Scoop half of the batter into another bowl. Mix the melted chocolate into one of the bowls of batter. Spoon some of each batter into the cake pans. The batter is thick, so just put scoops of each flavor all around the pans. Using a knife, swirl the two batters together and make sure it is spread to cover the bottom of the pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

We frosted ours with chocolate buttercream, but the site where I got it suggested ganache, which would make it super rich but really yummy too, I'm sure!

Adapted slightly from  Blackbookkitchendiaries.wordpress.com

Crab and Asparagus Quiche

This is the quiche that I made in my new favorite pie crust.  It is delicious and easy and Jeff and Mia and I loved it.  The original recipe didn't call for asparagus but I thought it sounded good and I had some on hand so I used it.  I think it was a nice addition.

Crab & Asparagus Quiche

1/2 C. mayonnaise
2 Tbs. all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 C. milk
1 C. crab meat (or 1 can crab meat, drained)
1 bunch of thin asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 C. shredded Swiss cheese
1 Tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 350°.  In a medium bowl, beat together eggs, mayonnaise and flour until smooth.  Add milk and beat again until mixed well.  Stir in crab, cheese, chives and asparagus.  Spread into pie shell.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
Serves 8.

Recipe altered from allrecipes.com

Delicious Pie Crust

I'm going to admit, I almost never make a home-made pie crust, because A. store bought is easier B. they scare me C. I am terrible at making the crust look nice and D. store bought is easier.  But I was making quiche the other night and didn't have a crust in the freezer.  What's a girl to do?  : )  I found this recipe and I love it.  So I guess I'm no longer afraid to make homemade pie crusts.  : )

Paula's Becky's Perfect Pie Crust
Yield: 2 (9-inch) pie crusts

2 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. table salt
3 Tbsp sugar, optional (if you want a sweeter crust)
1/4 C. vegetable shortening
12 Tbsp. butter, cold and cubed
1/4 C. to 1/2 C. ice water

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and sugar, if using.  Add the shortening and cut it into the flour mixture using a pastry blender until it's cut into small pieces.  Transfer mixture to a food processor and add the cold butter.  Pulse/blend until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse corn meal.  Add the ice water, about 1-2 tablespoons at a time, mixing after each addition until the mixture comes together forming a dough.  (If you don't have a food processor, you can do all of this with a pastry blender or a fork.)  Remove from the food processor and bring the dough together into a ball.  Divide the dough in half and flatten it slightly to form a disk shape.  Wrap each disk in plastic wrap ad chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.  On a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie.
The crust was delicious and flaky and it wasn't tough.  I loved it!
(After we put the pastry in the pie plate and, for the first time ever, made an acceptable looking crust, we used the excess pieces that we had cut off, to make a little dessert.  We spread some melted butter on the extra pieces, sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar and baked them at 350° until done.  Mmmmm.)

Recipe altered slightly from foodnetwork.com

Mint Chocolate Muddy Buddies

You can't go wrong with these... you could even do milk chocolate if, for some reason, you don't like dark chocolate.  Weird.

Mint Chocolate Muddy Buddies

Ingredients

1. 2 cups dark chocolate chips
2. Cream, as needed
3. 1 tsp peppermint extract
4. 5 cups Chex cereal
5. 1 ½-2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Melt chocolate over double boiler. Add cream as needed to create a smooth consistency.
2. Stir in peppermint extract into melted chocolate.
3. Toss in half of the cereal into melted chocolate and stir. Add renaming cereal and toss until evenly covered.
4. Add powdered sugar to chocolate coated cereal and mix until well coated.