December 2009 Archive

Buche De Noel

I know it’s New Years Eve, but I need to share the recipe for my Buche De Noel
I had always really wanted to make a Buche de Noel, but was always VERY intimidated.  Really, I was intimidated by cake rolls of any type.  This year, for some reason, I decided to take the plunge and give it a go.  If it went well, I had a nice cake to bring for dessert, it not, I had yummy cake scraps to snack on.  Not all that bad in my opinion.  Luckily it did turn out okay, and didn’t crack when I tried to roll it.  I didn’t get a chance to frost it, because I was having a sudden allergic reaction to some unknown and was feeling off.  It still came out great though.  *happy dance* for a triumph in the kitchen!

Buche de Noel

Buche de Noel

You’ll need~
3 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of water
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Beat eggs on high until they are thick and lemon colored.  Gradually beat in sugar.  On low speed, beat in water and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients, beating until just smooth.
Line a 10×15 jelly roll pan snuggly with foil.  Grease and flour.  Pour the batter into the pan.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  Immediately loosen cake from edges of pan and invert onto a clean towel that’s been dusted with cocoa powder.  Carefully peel the foil from the cake, I held my breathe, because it was at this point that I realized I shouldn’t be baking while taking Benadryl and may have forgotten to grease/flour the pan.  It did turn out okay, but I don’t think I’d take that chance again!  Trim the edges if necessary.  Roll the cake and towel (I held my breathe again!)  Let it cool on a wire rack, seam side down.
While it cools make the filling.

For the filling you’ll need~
3 tbsp flour
1 cup of milk
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup of butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Add milk to flour slowly.  Whisk it well to avoid lumps.  Cook the flour and milk stirring constantly until very thick.  It does take awhile.  Let this cool completely.
Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy.  Add the cooked mixture.  Beat on high speed until very fluffy.  Add cocoa powder.  Beat until incorporated.

Unroll the cake and remove the towel.  Spread the filling out all over the cake.  Roll it up.

You could double the filling recipe and use it to frost the roll.  I was going to, but well, the allergic reaction was not pleasant.  Top that off with Benadryl and a kitchen that was in need of being cleaned and presents that needed to be wrapped… Yeah.  Didn’t happen.  I dusted the top of mine with some confectioner’s sugar.  It looked good and tasted great!

PPCsig

Posted by Judy in desserts and tagged with ,

Chocolate Chippers!

These were a tasty treat that Santa loved.  They weren’t my normal Chocolate Chip cookies, as I didn’t have all the ingredients that I needed for those.  These were quite yummy, and very moist.  They were a definite hit with everyone!

Choco Chip Cookies

Choco Chip Cookies

You’ll need~
3 1/3 cups of flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter, softened
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Whisk flour, baking soda and salt.  Beat together the butter and sugars.  Add eggs, yolks and vanilla.  Mix in dry ingredients slowly on low speed.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Scoop onto baking sheet 2 inches apart.  Bake 17-20 min until edges are golden brown.

Enjoy with a tall glass of cold milk!

PPCsig

Posted by Judy in desserts and tagged with

Strawberry Chippers

I am dreadfully sorry for having not been around.  Things have been absolutely crazy.  My entire family has been sick sick sick, I’ve been trying to stay healthy and get ready for the holidays… cooking, cleaning, decorating, volunteering, etc…  Add to that the fact that I have two Littles who are just so so so so excited for Santa that they can’t even contain themselves!  I’m tired. So, with the holidays right upon us, I wanted to whip up as many cookies as possible in as little time as possible. I came up with this recipe after a little poking around in my pantry and was pleased with the results. It also received two thumbs up from the five year old.
Not to mention that there’s the cute factor! Just how pretty are these?!

strawberry chip cookies

strawberry chip cookies

You’ll need~
1 package of Strawberry cake mix
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup water
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine mix, egg, oil and water and beat well. Add in the chocolate chips.

Drop by heaping teaspoonful onto parchment paper lined… or, I guess greased, cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until done.

Enjoy!

PPCsig

Posted by Judy in desserts and tagged with

Khao Mok Kai, Thai-style chicken biryani

Khao Mok Kai

Khao Mok Kai

This came out really well.  I was actually quite surprised at how much my family enjoyed it!  The five year old didn’t even complain that it was McDonald’s night for his school, because it was Thai night at home!  :D

You’ll need~

4 Chicken leg quarters
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder

Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl.  Rinse the chicken, pierce with fork and massage the rub into the chicken.  Let the flavors   Roast the chicken legs at 375 degrees for about an hour.

Prepare desired amount of Jasmine rice in a rice cooker (I made enough for 5 prepared servings).  Add in 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp curry, dash of cumin and a dash of ginger.  Cook according to rice cooker directions.

PPCsig

Posted by Judy in Thai, mains and tagged with ,

Merry SITSmas to All!

Holidays_HolidayPig

Today all the wonderful ladies over at  SITS are celebrating SITSmas!  I hope that all mySITStas have a terrific holiday season filled with your hearts desires.

If you’re here from another avenue, be sure to head over to Secrets in the Sauce.  You’ll find tons of great bloggers, seriously, they’re great!  I’ve found so many blogs that I love, and I guarantee that you will too!

Love, happiness and blessings to all!

Judy-Santa-2009sm

Posted by Judy in Uncategorized

Feel like making whoopie… pies?

I decided that I needed Whoopie Pies. I’ve missed living in Maine and being able to go out and get a “lobstah” roll and a Whoopie Pie. Mmmmm…
We were supposed to be having company for dinner one night, so I was going to make them for dessert. I figured it was the perfect excuse!

Delicious Whoopie Pies!

Delicious Whoopie Pies!

You’ll need~

Cakes
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1 tsp vanilla (I actually somehow forgot this and it still tasted fine… but apparently it was an off night for me)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg

Filling
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 confectioners sugar
2 cups Marshmallow Fluff
1 tsp vanilla

Make the cakes~
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in another bowl.
Beat together butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy at medium high speed. Add the egg and continue beating. Reduce the speed on your mixer to low and alternately add the flour mixture and the butermilk. Make sure that you scrape the bowl so that everything combines completely. Mix it all until it’s smooth.
Spoon about 1/4 cup of the batter onto baking sheets that are either buttered or covered with silpats or parchment paper. See, this is where I got excited and poured so much batter and got huge cakes. Ginormous whoopie pies are fun, but you don’t get as many as you intended to… I supposed you could double the recipe for double the number of whoopies and still have wicked big whoopies!
Anywho… bake until the tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched. With normal whoopies this takes about 11-13 minutes. With my wicked big whoopies, I kept adding 5 minutes until they were done. Transfer then to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the filling~
Beat together butter, confectioners sugar, Fluff and vanilla at medium speed until smooth.

Put ‘em together~
Take one cake and slather on the filling on the flat side. Top with another cake.

Enjoy!

PPCsig

Posted by Judy in desserts

Jasmine Fried Rice

Jasmine fried rice with chicken

Jasmine fried rice with chicken

This Thai fried rice is so easy and I always have all the ingredients on hand to make it for my family who loves Thai food.  It’s another super easy and super tasty meal.

You’ll need
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp chopped garlic
4 cups cooked jasmine rice
2 cups cooked chicken breast, chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas
soy sauce, to taste
2 scallions, chopped
15-20 thai basil leaves, roughly chopped

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok. Add the beaten egg and cook. Remove from pan.
Heat remaining oil in wok with garlic. Add rice, chicken and peas. Toss until everything is heated through.
Season with soy sauce. Mix in scallions and basil. Transfer to serving dish. Top with egg.

PPCsig

Posted by Judy in Thai, mains