Guess It's NOT going to be a white Christmas

Christmas is right around the corner.  The weather is more like fall, rain, and no snow in sight.  The last few times we have been told we were getting snow, it never happened...bummer.  Guess with just 4 days to go I should start the holiday baking.  For those that know me, I am the type of person to “schedule” everything.  I originally gave myself two days to do all of the holiday baking for both sides of the family (Thursday and Friday), however today I find myself bored, and craving something sweet!  So here I go, adding Spice Cookies to my list.  My neighbor sent some home with me, and I promptly at ALL of them (over two days) leaving none for my boyfriend…tee hee…so I’m going to make more, they were that good!

I am trying something a bit different, my posts have gotten long, not just because I love to blog, but because the recipes are long.  So I’m going to try to simply link to them via Google Documents. So here is the recipe for Spice Cookies.

To start, gather all the ingredients, cause you don’t want to forget anything! I want to mention here that I LOVE molasses, I really need to use it more often. 

These are quite simple to mix up, and they need to chill for 2-3 hours, so now that they are mixed it’s on to the next cooking adventure!

I recently made Copycat Pretzels, they didn’t last too long…very tasty…so this time I’m going to use a different recipe, and make Soft Pretzel Bites cause it’s all about the adventure!  Once again, gather all of the ingredients! The only change I made from the recipe was to substitute one cup of all-purpose flour with one cup bread flour.  These mix up almost the same as the other pretzels, so I’m not taking pictures, yet.

The Pretzels will finish rising (1 hour) before the cookies have completed 2 hours of chilling so those will get cooked first!  While I wait for the dough to double, I’m going to get out the fixings for some hot chocolate.  I’ll wait to spike it until after I’ve finished my baking for the evening, seems the safest! I use dark chocolate, and a lot of it!  That way it’s not overly sweet.  Of course you can do this with any chocolate (white, semi, milk, salted) you want, and add all sorts of “num” to it, vanilla, caramel syrup.

When it came time to roll out the pretzels and proceed with the recipe I was wishing for a second set of hands.  There is a lot to do, and do quickly.  However I now have them all rolled, cut, boiled, placed, painted and salted.  Time for baking!!!

After they are done baking you have to put it on a cooling rack and wait 5 minutes. Oh that is soooo hard…just look at them!

Now that the pretzels are done, it’s time to finish the spice cookies!!!

Thankfully the pretzels were baked on parchment paper…which means cleaning my only two cookie sheets will be easy!  I really do need more than two cookie sheets….

They get to bake...

Then again the waiting for 5 minutes, I think recipe writers are just trying to make us go crazy…

Cool fully on a wire rack and ENJOY!  I know I will!

Are you mimicing me?

I learned something new this week.  There is in fact a difference between all-purpose flour, and bread flour.  Bread flour contains more gluten, which is good for bread, bad for pastry…so I did buy bread flour, with the intent to make a copycat recipe of Aunty Anne’s Pretzels.  So tonight, I’m hungry, and craving pretzels!

I am also adult enough to realize that pretzels are not to be considered a meal, so I’m also going to make another copycat recipe, Bourbon chicken.  Bring on the yum!

The pretzel recipe is fairly simple, no eggs, so you can taste the dough without fear, as if that has ever stopped me from eating dough!  Mix it up and let it rise!

I decided to spare everyone the raw chicken pieces, but I’m sure everyone reading this knows how to cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces.

I did not have the apple juice I needed for this recipe, which is why you should always double check that you have everything you need BEFORE starting to cook, in my case I had already started the pretzels and didn’t have enough time to run to the store and back before it was time for step two on that.

I substituted maple whiskey, watered down of course. 

 

Making a pretzel shape is quite simple.

Pinch off dough

Roll into a rope

Twist once

Twist twice

Flip twists down to form the pretzel shape

Dip in soda water

Place on greased cookie sheet

Bake

While the pretzels were baking the bourbon chicken was almost done, so I thickened the sauce, nuked some instant rice, and dished up a bowl of yum.

When they come out of the oven you slather them in melted butter and sprinkle on the coarse salt.

My lesson tonight, roll those ropes a lot thinner!!!  And when it says to grease the cookie sheet, use real grease, not pam.  Now to find the marinara dip and have a second serving of home cooking!

Bourbon Street Chicken

Ingredients       
2 pounds boneless chicken breasts; cut into bite-size pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil; (1-2)
1 garlic clove; crushed
1/4 teaspoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch; (if thick sauce desired)

Directions

1.       Heat oil in a large skillet.

2.       Add chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned.

3.       Remove chicken.

4.       Add remaining ingredients, heating over medium Heat until well mixed and dissolved.

5.       Add chicken and bring to a hard boil.

6.       Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Serve over hot rice and enjoy!

Auntie Anne’s Copycat Pretzels

Ingredients:

    1 1/2 cups water

    1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 pkg.)

    2 tablespoons brown sugar

    1 1/4 teaspoons salt

    1 cup bread flour

    3 cups flour

    2 cups water

    2 tablespoons baking soda

    coarse salt

    2 -4 tablespoons butter (melted)

Directions:

1.       Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve.

2.       Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic.

3.       Let rise at least 1/2 hour.

4.       While dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with 2 cups warm water and 2 tbsp baking soda.

5.       Be certain to stir often.

6.       After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into a long rope (about 1/2 inch or less thick) and shape.

7.       Dip pretzel in soda solution and place on greased baking sheet.

8.       Allow pretzels to rise again.

9.       Bake in oven at 450 for about 10 minutes or until golden.

10.   Brush with melted butter.

Toppings: After you brush with butter try sprinkling with coarse salt.

Or for Auntie Anne's famous Cinnamon Sugar, try melting a stick of butter in a shallow bowl (big enough to fit the entire pretzel) and in another shallow bowl make a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Dip the pretzel into the butter, coating both sides generously.  Then dip  into the cinnamon mixture.

Notes: The longer and thinner you can make the dough rope, the more like Auntie Anne's they will be.