Stephanie says

  Festive Spicy Christmas Cookie Cutouts (From Woman’s Day Food Department 12/23/1986 – I wasn’t kidding about how many years I’ve been baking these cookies!)   This recipe makes about 90 2-inch nicely spiced cookies.   3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour 1 Tablespoon baking powder (For best results - buy a new can before Christmas baking) 1 ½ Tablespoon ground cinnamon 1 Tablespoon ground ginger ¾ teaspoon ground allspice ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg ¼ teaspoon ground cloves 1 ½ cups butter, at room temperature 1 ¾ cups packed light-brown sugar 1 large egg Icing (recipe follows) For decoration:  sliced almonds, red cinnamon candies, silver dragees   Mix flour, baking powder and spices. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar with electric mixture until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until blended.     Divide dough in thirds.  Shape each into a ball; flatten to 1-inch thick rounds.  Wrap in...

I've made this recipe annually for 50 odd years to the delight of friends and family.  This buttery smooth candy gets a lot of requests. This past Christmas, the recipe went missing, as did my favorite rolled spice cookie recipe.  I looked EVERYWHERE and I have sooooo many recipes.  I checked this blog in hopes that I'd posted it here.  But, nope.  I searched the internet which had many recipes for mint candy, most of them involved cream cheese and no cooking.  The recipes I tried were met with disappointment from my test audience, my grandchildren.   Happily I stumbled across BOTH recipes recently.  I'm posting this now - just in case.    From top left:  Spice cookies; Pink mints; Pistachio Brittle; Blonde Fudge; Chocolate Crinkle Balls. Bottom left:  Brown Butter Sugar cookies Looking at this photo makes me long for Christmas. Mint Patties Ingredients: 1/3 cup butter 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1 lb sifted powdered sugar - divid...

 I stumbled across Lidia's Kitchen (Amazon Prime) during the pandemic.  This is a charming program filmed by Lidia's grandson with an occasional cameo of her mother.   I love, love Italian food. ”Adapted from Lidia’s Italian American Kitchen. Serves 12 This is a great way to use some of those winter share vegetables but it does take some time. Don’t let that or the list of ingredients deter you- this is an amazing soup, delicious, hearty and completely satisfying. The bean-based stock makes this a completely vegetarian soup- make sure to soak your beans and drain them thoroughly before cooking them. You should have plenty of soup to eat and to freeze.   You can use canned beans but I prefer using dried beans.   3 cups dried cannellini (white kidney) beans 8 cups cold water 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling over the soup 2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 cups) 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 pound kale, washed and cut into1/2-inch strips...

I've been making this recipe since Tyler was in high school, some 20 years ago.  She always hid it in the back of the fridge so her visiting friends wouldn't wolf it down!    It is delicious and so simple to make.   Ingredients: 1/3 cup sugar 2 TBL flour 2 TBL cornstarch Pinch salt Mix the above ingredient in a saucepan. Slowly add 2-1/4 cup milk - in 1/2 cup additions.  Stir to dissolve lumps.   Add 1 lightly beaten egg and 1 Tsp butter Cook and stir constantly over medium heat (6 minutes or so) to a boil.  Cook 1 more minute.  Remove from burner. Add 1/4 tsp almond extract and 1/2 Tsp vanilla extract Cover and chill.  This recipe can be doubled.

  I tried a new recipe for sweet dough, and it's delicious.  The dough recipe is from:  https://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/101/Grandmas-Sweet-Roll-Dough127195.shtml I tried a different method shaping the rolls, details follow. 350 degrees, 30 minutes.  Internal temperature 190 degrees.  Ready in 1 - 3 hours. Makes 18 rolls. dough ingredients 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoons salt 2 packages dry yeast (I used Instant Yeast) 2/3 cup milk, scalded, cooled 2/3 cup lukewarm water 2 eggs, beaten 5 cups flour filling ingredients 1/2 cup softened butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 TBL cinnamon pinch of salt directions Soften yeast in half the water with a pinch of sugar added. Set aside.  Combine milk, oil, sugar, salt and remaining water. Stir in one cup of flour, then add the eggs and yeast mixture. Mix in the remaining 4 cups of flour; turn out onto floured counter and knead for about 2 minutes until smooth.  Grease a large bowl with oil, then pla...

 Adapted from Bon Appetit December 2022 issue. I've always been a bean fan.  During some lean times of my youth, Mom relied on big pots of red beans to feed our family.  Along with a big dolop of ketchup.  I still eat beans in this simple form-unless I have a bit pot of the following recipe on hand.  I've made this at least four times - to my family's delight.  There are a lot of spices in this recipe, but they mellow out in cooking and are not hot.  My 8-year grandson always asks for seconds. I use a deep skillet - so it's a one-pot dinner,  6 - 8 servings Ingredients: 1 TBL extra-virgin olive oil 6 oz cured Spanish chorizo, chopped 4 oz bacon (about 4 slices) chopped 1 medium green bell pepper, ribs removed, finely chopped 1 medium onion, finely chopped 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 bay leaf 1 TBL dried oregano 1 TBL ground coriander 1 TBL ground cumin 1 quart chicken broth 2 15 oz cans black beans (I usually cook up a couple cups of dried b...

Smitten Kitchen Keepers  new cookbook by Deb Perelman I've followed Smitten Kitchen for at least fifteen years and I love this new cookbook.  I bought it as a Christmas present to myself. So far I've made:  Pea feta and mint fritters: Peanut butter oat and jam bars; Skillet white bean "caesar'; Winter squash soup; Swiss chard enchiladas.   Each of these recipes was delicious.  I look forward to trying more recipes! I love beans in any form.  The  following recipe: Skillet white bean "caesar", is so tasty. Serves 1 or 2 Ingredients Olive oil 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs Kosher salt 2 garlic cloves 3 anchovy fillets 1 TBL drained capers Red-pepper flakes Grated zest and nice of 1/2 lemon One 15.5 ounce can white beans, (cannelloni, navy, etc.), drained and rinsed. I cooked up a pound of dried Great northern beans in the instant, for 35 minutes.  30 minutes would have sufficed - the beans were a tad mushy.) 1/4 tsp smooth Dijon mustard 1 TBL grated parm...