Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by family and friends.



I wish you were here Jon.

Love you!!

Candied Ginger Cookies

Another entry from my Spice Cookie Baking Day with Ericka.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE ginger!

What's spicier than Candied Ginger?

I wanted to try it in a cookie. I love to just snack on little pieces of it. But I've never had it 'in' anything.

So another search of the interwebs turned up this recipe!

Moxie's Crystallized Ginger Cookies from recipezaar.com.



Moxie's Crystallized Ginger Cookies
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 TBLS sesame oil
1/4 C dark molasses
1 C granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 C flour
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 ounces candied ginger, coarsely chopped (about 1/2 cup)

Preheat oven to 375F.
Cream butter& sesame oil with molasses sugar and egg.
Sift together dry ingredients (except candied ginger) and add to creamed mixture.
Blend well.
Fold in candied ginger.
Chill for one hour.
Form into 1-inch balls, roll in granulated sugar.
Put cookies about 2 inches apart from each other on a greased baking sheet (or one you have lined with parchment paper).
Bake 8-10 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cream butter, sesame oil, sugar, egg and molasses.


Mmmmm... the sesame oil smells AMAZING!!!

Whisk together dry ingredients (except ginger)


Chop candied ginger...


Chop it much finer than this...

My step-by-step pics are missing quite a few steps this time!

Fold in candied ginger and refrigerate for one hour.



Roll into one inch balls... and roll balls in granulated sugar.


Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.




These cookies totally ROCK!



Even Mr SpiceCookieHater like them.

The sesame oil gives them a really amazing nutty flavor that really compliments the candied ginger.

Plus these cookies are nice and chewy... and they stay that way!

Definitely a keeper!!

Eggnog French Toast

It's that time of year again.

Eggnog is in the grocery store!



Jon loves French Toast, so I decided to make him some with Eggnog!

It's wicked easy.

A few eggs...


A big splash of Eggnog...


Some freshly grated nutmeg...


Whisk it all together...


And some nice thick Texas Toast bread...



Into a hot buttered skillet...


Give it a flip...


And it's time for breakfast!


French toast is not usually my first choice for breakfast. I definitely prefer pancakes. But I have to say, this French Toast was insanely delicious!!!

This is perfect to serve to your overnight holiday guests!

Fried Chicken & Waffles

Fried Chicken & Waffles.

I think Jon and I must have seen this on FoodTV, maybe Feasting on Asphalt or Diners, Drive-ins & Dives, or maybe a History Channel show about food?

Maybe a show about Roscoe's House of Chicken & Waffles? I have no idea.

But Jon saw it and had to have it.

He asked me to make it at least once a week for several months or more.

I finally made it for him!

And... much to my delight... he said it was even better than he thought it would be!



I had planned to just use a recipe from the little recipe book that came with my waffle maker. But sadly, it is no longer in the box.

So first thing, I had to find a waffle recipe.

I found this recipe at allrecipes.com. It had 4.5 stars and 669 reviews.

That should work!

Waffles
2 eggs
2 C flour
1 3/4 C milk
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 TBLS white sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.
Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.


Easy enough! I decided that rather than trying to get waffles and fried chicken all cooked at the same time, I'd make the waffles ahead of time and heat them up when the chicken was ready.

Whisk up the waffle batter.


While the waffle iron is preheating.


This is only the second time I've used my waffle iron.

It took a couple of waffles to get the right amount of batter into the iron.





Ok... waffles are done... I'll pop them into the oven when the chicken is almost ready.


Now it's my understanding that Fried Chicken & Waffles are served with pancake syrup. That didn't sound very good to me. So I have pancake syrup for Jon... but I also whipped up a quick chicken gravy.





So... waffles are done... gravy is done... chicken has been soaking in buttermilk & hot sauce.

Just need to Fry the Chicken.

For Jon... drizzled with syrup...



For Tawny & I... covered with chicken gravy...



Bobby had his separate... but then did enjoy dipping his chicken in the pancake syrup.

Jon said he really liked the sweet syrup with the slightly salty fried chicken.

Nice!!

Toad in the Hole... CHECK
Fried Chicken & Waffles... CHECK

I don't think there's anything else on his list... but if he reads this, I'm sure he'll let me know!

Captain Morgan's Planter's Punch

Who doesn't love the Captain?



Nobody!

So, during one of our recent football gatherings, we decided the beverage of the day would be Captain Morgan's Planter's Punch.



Captain Morgan's Planter's Punch
1.25 oz Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
2 oz orange juice
2 oz pineapple juice
.25 oz lime juice
.25 oz lemon juice
1 good splash grenadine
1 cherry with stem
1 orange slice

Shake with ice and strain into an ice filled glass.

Garnish with cherry & orange.

Enjoy!!

Curry & Cardamom Cookies

Quite a while back I was looking for a cookie recipe that included curry.

I don't know why. But I had to find one.

Well... a quick Google search quickly pointed me to these Curry & Cardamom Cookies in the recipe section of The Spice House.

It's a recipe from a book called An Unthymely Death and Other Garden Mysteries: A Treasury of Stories, Herbal Lore, Recipes and Crafts by Susan Wittig Albert.

I've heard there are lots of great recipes in her novels. I might have to pick one up!

Great! I found a recipe that was exactly what I was looking for.

Fast forward almost a year... and I finally got around to making them!

Ericka and I had a spice cookie baking day a couple weeks ago and this was one of the cookies we made.



Curry & Cardamom Cookies
1 C butter
2 C brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp sweet curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 cup pecans, chopped

Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Whisk dry ingredients together. Add to creamed mixture, a third at a time. Stir in nuts.

Divide dough into four rolls and wrap each in waxed paper. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (may also be frozen).

Slice into 1/4-inch slices and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in preheated 350F oven until golden brown, 12-14 minutes. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet, then remove to a rack to cool thoroughly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cream butter, sugar, eggs & vanilla.


Whisk together dry ingredients


Add dry ingredients to wet, a little at a time until well combined.


I totally forgot the nuts.

Divide dough into four even parts.

Form into rolls, wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours.


When you're ready to bake... unwrap...


Slice into 1/4 inch slices.


And bake 12 - 14 minutes.

That's 12 minutes in my slightly hot oven.



Jon didn't like these cookies at all. But he Jon doesn't like any kind of spice cookie. I liked them a lot. But they are a crisp cookie and I prefer cookies a little chewier.

I brought them to work and the guys at work liked them. I doubt they ate a whole tray of them just to be nice. (contrary to what Jon thinks)

I also sent some up to Erin and Andrew's house. I 'think' they liked them. Andrew said it tasted like a cookie that fell into Indian food. So I guess that's good if you like Indian food and not so good if you don't!

Ericka and Drew liked them too.



So if you're looking for something a little different, definitely give these cookies a try!