Walkin in a Winter Wonderland

Snow! Yes I have snow! I have it on my doorstep, I have it on my bushes, I have it on my car...I HAVE SNOW! As I mentioned in a previous post, the Westside of Albuquerque doesn't usually see snow. So when I was at work yesterday and the beautiful flakes kept falling from the sky and suddenly turning into 3 inch piles outside the office I was ecstatic. There's something about snow that turns everything into a beautiful serene landscape.

This is the time I wish I was a kid again! Our schools are, for now, on a two hour delay, which takes me back to my own childhood snow days. I would wake up, run into the kitchen and have my ears ringing with the words that came out of my mom's mouth, "No school...snow". My brother and would get all bundled up and head out for our first mission, snowman building. But not just one snowman, we would make a Daddy, a Mommy, a Sister and a Brother snowman. The next task was sledding.

We used to live by a park that had this huge hill, we actually the park was built kinda like a pit. We'd show up at the park and all the other kids would have these fancy sleds and would make it half way down the hill and come to a complete stop. Well we didn't have enough money for a sled, so my parents gave us an extra scrap of linoleum they had from when we revamped the kitchen floor. All the kids gave us a look of disgust when we pulled out our blue checkered linoleum sled. Chris and I were a little embarrassed at first, but the second we zoomed down the hill like a speed racer, making it all the way to the bottom, the embarrassment quickly faded.

Pretty soon everybody wanted to take a turn on our sled! Ah, those were the days! As I'm writing this post they just announced all schools are cancelled, and I just received a text from my boss that we still have to go to work, no delay, no closure. Please, please can I go back to being a kid?!

This week's TWD was another great cookie recipe, that I'm sure Santa would LOVE to eat during his busy night of present deliveries. This recipe, Buttery Jam Cookies, is brought to you by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl . I really enjoyed these cookies, they were light, buttery and the surprise chunks of jam really got me excited! Not only will this be a favorite of Santa's but of favorite of my family, and hopefully yours!

Dear Heroes,

See, I'm a little too old to actually mail my Christmas Wishlist to Santa (Hey, I still make one, it just doesn't go to the North Pole). So I figured this year I would send my Christmas Wishes and Santa Cookies to someone a little more special. Jason Lansdon is my new found Santa. At the young age of 25 Jason is a Sergeant in the U.S. Marines, and is currently on his four tour in Iraq. This Christmas Jason will be away from his wife Jackie and his three month old baby girl Jayden.



I was introduced to Jason when I joined the Baking Gals group. Baking Gals has teams of bakers, who bake for an individual, and their troop, who is serving our country. After reading through this round's teams, I was struck by Jason's introduction. Being that I am 24, I can't imagine having been to Iraq four times and to be away from my family at the Holidays.



Jason's favorite cookie is Chocolate Chip, and I wasn't going to deny him of his favorite cookie. But, I figured some of the other bakers would also be sending chocolate chip cookies, so I wanted to make mine a little different. I added some grated orange zest and grand marnier to the batter. Why have I never done this before? I made myself a mini cookie and was in heaven at first bite.
I also sent along some Oatmeal Crisps. Which are crunchy, mixed with a little bit of spice. A perfect holiday cookie.



I am just so proud of all these men and women who are serving our country, and know that cookies could never say how grateful I am for their strength, bravery and selflessness. They truly are my heroes, and I will always be thankful to them for making sure that all of us here at home wake up every morning to a safe and free United States of America! My Christmas wish is to say Happy Holidays Sergeant Lansdon and Crew and may you have a safe and blessed New Year! You will be in my thoughts and prayers!



Oatmeal Crisps

Ingredients
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon grated whole nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (optional)
1 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup regular oats

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 7 ingredients (flour through pepper) in a medium bowl. Beat sugar, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg; beat well. Stir in flour mixture and oats.
Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until crisp. Cool on pan 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pan; cool on wire racks.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

It's officially holiday time here in Albuquerque. As I woke up and turned the TV on this morning the first thing that I heard was notice of school cancellations, which can only mean one thing...SNOW! Now in New Mexico, we get quite a bit of snow up in the Eastern part of the state, but when it snows here in Albuquerque, it's usually only the mountains that see any of the snow.

Albuquerque is pretty much divided in half, one half is the east side. Which is home to the Sandia mountains (which holds the worlds longest tram ride!) and pretty much downtown Albuquerque. Then you have the west side, which is where I live. The west is the newer, continuously growing part of Albuquerque.

So, although my side of town hardly ever gets any snow, I love waking up in the morning and looking over at the Sandia's which have been frosted with white icing! Then you get the sun peeking up over the mountain and you have the most beautiful winter wonderland you've ever seen!

And although this weeks TWD could mimic my Sandia's with a good coat of icing, I chose to leave my Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies icing free. I did however decide to adjust the flavor a little bit by adding some orange zest and some allspice to the mix. And boy-oh-boy did I hit the Christmas nail on the head! The cookies were fruity, yet had the warm coziness that everyone loves during the holidays from the allspice. To check out the recipe and make a batch of these yummy cookies for yourself check out Ulrike's blog Kuchenlatein.

It's the Holiday Season

It's that time of year again people! It's time to wake up at the crack of dawn and stand in 3 hour lines for Christmas presents. It's time to get on the wobbly ladder and hang the Christmas lights. It's time to have the smell of an evergreen tree permeating your house. It's time to get in the kitchen and bake, bake, bake and then bake some more Christmas cookies!

TWD started off the Holiday baking with Linzer Sables, chosen by our first male TWD-er, Dennis of Living the Life! And I have to say that this recipe is pretty easy going. I sometimes hate when it seems like Holiday cookies take more effort to make than they do to enjoy. But these cookies were simple and straight forward.

I still don't know if I'm a big fan of them yet. I'm not sure how I feel about the cookie itself. It was good and crisp, but for me tasted a little bland. I also am not a fan of inhaling powdered sugar when I eat my cookie so I chose to fore go suffocation this time around :)

There's plenty more to bake and plenty more to decorate, so stay tuned for more Holiday Baking!

What came first, the pumpkin or the pecan?

Yahoo! We are just days away from my second favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. There are a few reasons why i love this holiday. I would like to say that the first reason is the food, but I'd be lying. The biggest reason I love Thanksgiving is that I get to spend of full day of cooking, laughing and sharing memories with my family.

In my house we start cooking the night before actual Turkey Day. We have to make the cornbread for the stuffing (or dressing as we call it), pies are made the night before, and we also make a breakfast casserole to have in the morning. Then, at the crack of dawn on Thursday Mom and I are up, with coffee in hand and we are chopping away. Celery, onions, sausage, all meet the knife, and we are thankful for their sacrifice.

The rest of the day is filled with me, Mom and Dad moving about the kitchen, with pots clinking, burners boiling, and Mr. Turkey roasting away. The smells fill the kitchen quickly and little by little the magic starts to happen. Deviled eggs are made, green been casserole is browned, pea salad is refrigerating, marshmallows on the sweet potatoes are melting, biscuits are rising, gravy is thickening, cranberries are jellied, pickled and olives are trayed and of course Mr. Turkey is carved.

My plate is piled with food, and I'll probably go back for seconds. The crowd of family now moves to the living room to surround the TV and watch some football. The dogs sit close and stare with puppy dogs eyes, begging for a morsel. After a few hours and some games, the pies, pumpkin and pecan, are unveiled, coffee is brewed, wine is opened and we all sit around the table talking about memories past. This is also the time that we bust out the shopping ads and create our plan of attack for the next days shopping mission.

It is for all of these reasons that I love Thanksgiving. I love spending all day with my family, I love, love the food, I love the football game, I love playing games at the table, and I love to be able to reflect on everything I am thankful for.

This week I was thankful for TWD for a few reasons. Vibi from La Casserole Carrée was our recipe queen this week and she chose Dorie's Thanksgiving Twofer Pie. It's half pumpkin and half pecan. I was so excited about this one, because my pie crust actually worked. When TWD made our blueberry pie, my pie crust was dumped in the trash and store bought was substituted. But not this time! My pie is completely home/hand made! The pumpkin filling had an extra kick thanks to the rum, which I really liked. And I loved the crunchy topping and nutty pecans. If you're anything like my family where we always make a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie, your life may have just got a little easier thanks to this scrumptious hybrid!

A-ha...kinda

I wish I could have an "A-ha" moment. Deep down inside I really have an urge to change my life, do something different and achieve my career goals. Only problem is I don't know what that career is. My mind has changed so many times that I have no clue anymore of what I want to do. I'd really like to start my own business, my ultimate goal would be some kind of bake shop. But, I'm not financially ready for that step yet.

So my mind wanders to other things. Personal Trainer, Real Estate Agent, something in Magazine Design, or even going to school to get my Masters...in what, I don't know. And with times being a little tough these days I feel like I would like to have a second source of income. I don't necessarily want to get another job. I'd like to find something easy that I could do in my "afterwork" hours, that doesn't have me working another 5 hours at night.

I just have so many thoughts running through my mind and I don't know how to sort them, where to take them, or what to do with them. I think about the woman that I want to be. Successful, financially independent, respected, entrepreneur, and innovative. Its connecting the dots to get to that woman that I'm having problems with. I just keep praying that while I'm having my coffee one morning I will all the sudden say "A-ha" I know now what it all means!

Until that day comes, I had an "A-ha" moment with this cake. I saw a recipe on Epicurious.com for Brown_Sugar Spice Cake with Caramelized Apples. The cake sounded so warm and comforting, some thing to help lift my spirits. Only problem was I didn't have any apples. Think, think, think. A-ha!!! I've had this jar of Pomegranate Jelly forever, and a can of pears in the pantry that needed to be used. So I figured I mix them together for my topping, and what do you know, I had one of the best cake I have ever, ever made! The flavors were so reminiscent of fall, and matched perfectly together that I found myself dying for another piece. At least I had some sort of an "A-ha" moment.

Brown-Sugar Spice Cake with Warm Pear-Pomegranate Compote

Adapted from Epicurious.com

Cake
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup dark amber or Grade B maple syrup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour cake pan, knocking out excess flour.Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices in a bowl.
Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg until combined. Add maple syrup, sour cream, and vanilla and beat until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, then mix until just incorporated.
Spread batter in cake pan and bake until cake is golden brown and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes.

Compote
1/4 cup pomegranate jelly
1 can of pear halves, cubed

Place both the jelly and the pears in a bowl and microwave for 2 minutes, or until jelly have liquified. Mash pears, slightly to add texture. Spoon mixture over cooled cake.

High Spirits

It's time to kick off Holiday Season! This year, the holidays are a little more special to me because I'm living on my own. It's my first time to ever go out and buy Christmas decor, decorate my own tree and host my own cocktail parties. Ever since I was little I always dreamed about this! I know, you may think it's silly, but I was raised in a Christmas loving family. My mom, god love her, has an entire shed in the backyard dedicated to Christmas decor. Every year our house would transform into this magical wonderland full of Gingerbread Kitchen, Snowmen Living Room, Santa Family Room. Every room had it's own theme, and there wasn't one spot of the house left untouched.

Well, her magic decorating elf dust has sprinkled its self on me. For now I find myself roaming the stores planning out my themed rooms. Buying up endless amounts of red and green. And with each purchase I make I find my self smiling more and more. I never knew that creating my Christmas Wonderland could lift my spirits so much.

To compliment my "high spirits" theme, I decided to give my Arborio Rice Pudding of this week's TWD challenge some added spirit. When I saw that Isabelle of Les Gourmandes d'Isa chose this recipe I decided to stray away from the original flavors of vanilla and/or chocolate. I wanted a little kick to my rice pudding, so I added a little cinnamon, orange zest and Grand Marnier.

I also noticed that many TWD-ers were having probably with their puddings being to liquidy, so I actually used 1/2 c of rice and reduced the milk by about 3/4 of a cup. I was left with silky, creamy, orange-y rice pudding. I was tempted to eat my whole margarita glass, but I put the spoon in the dishwasher before I had a chance :) This recipe was such a cinch to make, and has endless possibilities to it. So I raise my glass and toast to the kick off of the Holiday Season, may all your days be merry and bright!

Turning Old Into New

With the economy heading south for the winter, the time to stretch every penny is upon us. I find myself now making sure to use every last drop of milk, saving every last piece of chicken thinking that I can use it as part of my lunch the next day, even using my tea bags twice or reheating old coffee just to save a few bucks. The funny thing is, that it actually feels a little rewarding to find new, inventive ways to pinch the penny.

So, after successfully baking TWD Kugelhopf and having two or three slices of it, I was left staring at a whole loaf of Kugelhopf that was almost destined to make it to the trash. Not that I wanted to throw it away, but I just couldn't eat that much Kugelhopf on my own! When I thought all hope was lost for my little friend, a spark of hope glimmered in the distance.

That spark of hope is called bread pudding! That's right! I took my crusty three day old Kugelhopf and turned it into a White Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding. Since cool dark nights are swallowing the sunshine of my day earlier and earlier, I couldn't think of anything better to cuttle up to than a warm bowl of bread pudding. And kugelhopf is actually a great "bread" to use, it was crusty on the top, but light and custardy throughout the center.

To all of you out there who are battling these tough times, I raise my spoon to you and say Show Them What You're Made Of! Because we are a nation, a species, a world who have overcome many, many tough times. We will make it through this, just as we have before and come out on top, stronger and ready to face a new day!

White Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Syrup

Ingredients

3/4 c whole milk

3/4 c half and half

1/2 c sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Dash of salt

3 eggs beaten

4 1/2 c (1/2 inch) cubes of Dorie Greenspan's Kugelhopf

1/4 c white chocolate chips

1/2 c chopped pecans

Directions

Combine milk through eggs in a bowl and whisk together. Place Kugelhopf cubes into 8 inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pour milk mixture over Kugelhopf. Press down on bread to absorb the milk mixture. Sprinkle white chocolate chips and pecans over top. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place baking dish in a 13x9 pan, add hot water to pan to the depth of 1 inch. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake and additional 10 - 20 minutes, until wooden skewer comes out clean.

Cinnamon Syrup

Ingredients

1 c water

1 c packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

Combine water and brown sugar in saucepan and bring to boil over high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil for about 10 minutes, until mixture is reduced to about a cup. Remove from heat, and whisk in the cream and cinnamon. Keep sauce warm and serve over warm bread pudding.

Rising Again

Hello Blog World!! I am so happy to be back! My surgery went perfectly, although they did discover that I have arthritis at the age of 24, but other than that all is fine. I am now in my recovery stage. Today was the first day, in three weeks, that I was allowed to take my stiff-leg brace off. And boy does it feel good to bend (slighty) my knee!

As with todays' TWD, I feel like I am rising again, on my way back to my full potential. It's gonna take some time to be completely 100%, but like a good Kugelhopf (chosen by Yolanda of the All-purpose Girl), it's all about the waiting process! I don't think there couldn't have been a better chosen recipe to represent these last few weeks for me!

I must admit, I was a little nervous about making this recipe, not only because it had been a few weeks since I have even looked at my mixer, but also because of the dreaded word Y-E-A-S-T. As you may remember from the TWD Sticky Buns I was very apprehensive about a yeast recipe, because all of my previous attempts with yeast had failed. But I tell you, there's something about Dorie's recipes that always seem to work out. I now have two successful yeast baked recipes under my belt, and am slowly starting to warm up to the bubbly, fermenting little guy!

I wanted to switch up my Kugelhopf, maing it a little more suited for the fall season that has hit New Mexico like a shcokwave. So, I opted to used dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. And boy what a match. The sweet/tartness of the cranberries gave the perfect zing the the airy, buttery dough, and the scattered bite of white chocolate was a sweet, melty surprise. And who says you need a traditional Kugelhopf pan? I made half the dough in my Brooche molds, and the other half in a tube pan, and they worked perfectly. I can't wait to make this recipe again, but try different additions!

A Minor Leave of Absence

Dear Bloggers,

I just wanted to let you all know that I will be out of the blogging world for a week or two. I'm going into the hospital today to have knee surgery. After years of cheerleading, dancing and marathon running, my young 24 year old knees have finally given up on me, and need to be fixed. I hope to have a speedy recovery and should be back to blogging and baking within a few weeks!

Thanks for the support!
Stephanie

Light as Air

This has to be one of my favorite times of the year. Here in Albuquerque, if you look out your window just as the sun is rising, you'll notice jewel tones filling the sky. You'll hear roaring noises that are floating up above. You'll see people gathering on their porches, in their backyards, and in the street, all staring up at the sky. And for what? This...



The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. This world renowned event brings balloonists from all over the world, with balloons of all shapes and sizes to this great city to participate in the World's Largest Balloon Fiesta. The event is a week and a half long and hosts regular Mass Ascentions, Balloon Glows, Special Shapes Rodeos and Glowdeos (Shaped Balloons that fly in the morning and glow at night), and Balloon Races (hundreds of balloon race into the park to grab envelopes off poles that are 15 ft in the air).



If you ever needed an excuse to travel to Albuquerque, this is it. People begin arriving at the park at 5 am and stay all day to see the over 800 balloons take flight. Of course, to get up that early, it requires a lot of coffee, well for me anyway. We woke up at 4:15 to get ready, and by 5:30 I had already had three cups of coffee. And what goes best with coffee?



Cranberry Pecan Biscotti of course! Which was this weeks TWD pick by Gretchen of Canela & Comino. Gretchen actually picked Lenox Almond Biscotti by Dorie, but I wanted to change out the nut and add some cranberries. I just think cranberries have such a "fall" feeling and I adore them in any type of cookie. These were so lite and crisp, and a perfect mate for my little coffee mug :)