We tried a few new cookie recipes at Christmas this year and found two that we really liked.  This one was a favorite with everyone who tried them. It sort of takes a second - you take a bite and think "that's good" then about one second later everyone, without fail, said some variation of "Oh my gosh! Those are SO good!"  These will become a staple in this house for sure.

Chocolate Orange Cookies

2 C flour

2/3 C cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 C (2 sticks) butter, softened 

1 C granulated sugar

2/3 C firmly packed brown sugar 

2 eggs

1 tsp Orange extract 

6 oz chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.  Beat butter and sugars in large bowl with mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and extract; mix well.  Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low until well mixed.  Stir in chocolate chips.  

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (or spray with non-stick cooking spray).  Drop by rounded tablespoons about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. 

Bake 8-10 minutes or just until cookies are set.  Cool on baking sheets 2 minutes.  Remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

Try not to eat them all.  

Altered slightly from McCormick 

Egg Nog Creme Brulee

I always pin egg nog recipes at Christmastime and I've been wanting to try Egg Nog Creme Brulee for a while.  I had just enough egg yolks left over from an attempt at making a Buche de Noel (which was a horrible, disgusting, total failure.)  After looking at all of the recipes for egg nog creme brulee, I finally found one that didn't call for any alcohol.  Hooray!  So I finally made it today.  It was really easy and deeeelish.  Jeff gives it "at least a 4.75" (out of 5).  Josh and Tiernan didn't like it but Jeff, Mia and I loved it.  Oh, when I brought the torch in from the garage to caramelize the sugar, Mia asked what it was for.  I explained the process and she was shocked.  Even more so when I told her that I was going to do this right in the kitchen - NOT outside, like she suggested.  When Jeff came downstairs, she said, "Dad.  Mom is going to BURN our dessert!"  Then when I got ready to do the sugar, she called to the boys, "Boys!  Come watch Mom burn our dessert!"  Ha ha ha!  She's such a turkey.  It's a good thing she liked it - burnt sugar and all.
My ramekins are a little deeper than typical creme brulee ramekins, so it took a little longer to bake. When it's done, it should be a little jiggly, but set, and a knife inserted in the center should come out clean.  I also would have used a little more sugar on top.

Eggnog Creme Brulee

makes six 4-oz/120-ml ramekins 

Ingredients

2 cups (473 ml.) store bought or homemade Eggnog
2 cups (473 ml.) heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup (62 mg.) sugar
6 egg yolks
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
6 tsp. sugar for topping

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, 160/170 Celsius, or Gas Mark 3. And put a kettle of hot water on the stove.

Place the eggnog, the cream and the sugar into a medium saucepan, stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to just a simmer, don't boil it. Place the yolks into a large bowl and beat them a little. Ladle a little cream mixture into the yolks, whisking the whole time, then a little more while you keep whisking. Keep adding and whisking till you've added about half. Then add all of yolk mixture to the cream mixture and whisk till it's all incorporated. Add the fresh nutmeg. Pour the whole shebang through a fine mesh strainer placed over a large measuring cup with a spout for pouring. 

Place 6 ramekins into a large (9x13 ish) sized pan. Pour hot water from your kettle half way up the sides of the ramekins. Pour the creme mixture into ramekins. Now cover the pan with foil.

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Until the centers are set and a knife comes out clean when placed in the center. Tip- if the water is poured more than half way up the sides of the ramekins, it will take longer to bake.

Remove the ramekins from the pan using tongs. Put them into another 9x13 pan and cover with plastic. Place in the fridge until cold, or overnight. When ready to serve, using a paper towel, carefully pat the tops of the custards to remove moisture that accumulated in the fridge. Place 1 tsp of sugar in a thin layer over each custard. Make it as thin as you can, it may not take the whole teaspoon. Broil the top of the sugar with a torch until it's golden brown. Or if you don't have a torch, place them under the broiler until the sugar is golden. If you are doing it under the broiler, you need to watch it closely, this only takes moments. I would even leave the oven door open and watch it while it's happening. They can burn very quickly and that would be bad. 

Let the custards sit a few minutes before serving so the sugar hardens.

Recipe from: http://alchemybaking.blogspot.com/2012/01/eggnog-creme-brulee.html?m=1

Mojo Fondue Broth

This is a tasty alternative to oil for fondue - delish!  We cooked steak, chicken, broccoli and mushrooms in it and it had really good flavor.

Mojo Fondue Broth (ala The Melting Pot) 

5 1/4 C chicken broth (plus 1 can in reserve) 

1/4 C orange juice

2 Tbsp ground cumin 

2 Tbsp jerk seasoning (we used Nantucket Rosemary Citrus Poultry Rub from Savory Spice) 

1 scant Tbsp black pepper 

2 Tbsp lime juice 

3 tsp minced garlic 

Combine all ingredients in large saucepan on stovetop.  Bring to a boil.  Transfer to electric fondue pot.  

As the broth cooks away add another can of chicken broth then give it a couple minutes to come up to temperature.  (There's plenty of seasoning so you only need to add more broth.)

Cook chicken, beef, shrimp and veggies.  

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

I love mashed potatoes, but the ones I made in the past were never that amazing.  I finally decided to search for some mashed potato making tips and I finally found the key to creamy mashed potatoes! Cream cheese.  Truly - so delish!  I saw this tip on Pioneer Woman's blog and she used a lot more butter and cream cheese than I did (she's a little fearless on the fat front...), but I still added both and it was so yummy.  I added whole milk, cream cheese, butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  I think other toppings like chives and bacon bits would be delicious additions, but this was great on its own too.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/delicious_creamy_mashed_potatoes/

This was, by far, the most popular pie I made for Thanksgiving this year.  Jeremy loves it and has reminded me several times to print the recipe.  The original recipe used a regular pie crust, but I did it on a graham cracker crust and I think that was a good move.

Banana Cream Pie

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 10 min. Cook: 15 min. + chillingYIELD:8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pre-made graham cracker pie crust
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups 2% milk
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 pastry shell (9 inches), baked
• 2 large firm bananas
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Directions

• 1. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and milk until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Stir a small amount of hot filling into eggs; return all to pan. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes longer.
• 2. Remove from heat. Gently stir in butter and vanilla. Press plastic wrap onto surface of custard; refrigerate, covered, 30 minutes.
• 3. Spread half of the custard into pie crust. Slice bananas; arrange over filling. Pour remaining custard over bananas. Spread with whipped cream. Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. Yield: 8 servings.

From Taste of Home

White Chocolate Fondue

We had "black & white" fondue for dessert tonight - semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate -  and it was a hit.  The white chocolate fondue was the most popular, by far.  The chocolate was good but not amazing, so we'll try another recipe for the chocolate next time we do this.


White Chocolate Fondue

12 oz. white chocolate chips
1/8 C. milk
1/8 C. heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Put all ingredients in the top of a double boiler over simmering water.  Heat and stir frequently until melted and smooth.  Serve warm.  (Or, you can put all ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each one, until smooth.)
Serve with orange slices, bananas, pretzels, graham crackers, marshmallows, strawberries and whatever else sounds good to you.  :)

Rosemary Parmesan Pumpkin Seeds

I found this collection of pumpkin seed recipes and just had to try something new this year.  These Rosemary Parmesan seeds are really good!  I didn't read the recipe right at first...it says to roast the seeds first for an hour and then add the seasoning and roast for 10-15 more minutes.  I had already added the seasoning so I just roasted them for an hour and tented them with foil for the first 45 minutes, took the foil off for 5 minutes, and then roasted them at 350° for 10 minutes and they were totally fine.  Yay!  But I've written the recipe up the way that you're "supposed" to do it, so feel free to actually follow the directions if you want. :)


Rosemary Parmesan Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups pumpkin seeds (about 2 medium sized pumpkins

Scoop the seeds out of the pumpkin, place in a colander and rinse with cold water, working to separate the seeds from the pumpkin guts.  Pat dry.  Preheat the oven to 300°, spread seeds on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake them until dry throughout, about 50-60 minutes.
Remove baking sheet from oven, then raise the oven temp to 350°.

Transfer the seeds to a bowl, add the flavorings, then return them to a baking sheet and roast 10-15 minutes, or until golden.

Rosemary-Parmesan seasoning

2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (I used a heaping 1/2 Tbsp of dry, crushed rosemary)
1/4 C. finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Pour over seeds, toss to coat.  Season with salt & pepper, to taste.
Spread the pumpkin seeds out on the baking sheet and roast at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until golden.


As a side note, we also tried the recipe for the gingerbread pumpkin seeds and unfortunately we were pretty disappointed in those.  They smelled fantastic, but they didn't taste as good as I was hoping they would.  :(

Recipe from http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/pumpkin-seed-recipes?crlt.pid=camp.IRNT60Rj4TIV