Never Bashful with Butter

… Just so ya’ll know I’m not crazy, Pigs and peppermint have gone together for quite a long time- Click HERE for mor information on the Peppermint Pig Christmas tradition.

One of my favourite things about winter is the sudden availability of peppermint ice cream.

You know, the pink kind with the little chunks of peppermint candy in it. The kind that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy and wintery just smelling it.

In my teens, I was obsessed with Schwans brand peppermint ice cream. My mom had started making regular orders to the schwans delivery man when I was 13 or so, and that was one of my first requests for her to order. It was smooth and creamy and perfect. It was a beautifully bright shade of pink, filled with all sorts of chunks of peppermint candy that was oddly easy to bite into, and not toothbreakingly hard like one might assume “hard” candy would be when frozen.

Through my teens I never had to search for another brand of peppermint ice cream. It was all about the Schwans.

…Then they switched from pink peppermint to GREEN mint, with primary coloured mint chunks, and it was no longer strictly peppermint flavoured, but rather a more generic mint flavour, combining the wonderful peppermint with a hint of wintergreen, my least favourite flavour on the planet, causing the whole mess to taste a bit like toothpaste.

I was not happy.

But I also could not locate another pink peppermint ice cream.

Over time, I moved on in ice cream flavours.

Peppermint fell by the wayside in order to make room for more common, generic flavours, like Blue Bunny’s Classic chocolate and Ben and Jerry’s Karamel core and Häagen-Dazs strawberry. There was a brief stint with Tillamook orange cream, but that didn’t last long.

Then suddenly last week, after sort of boycotting ice cream due to tooth sensitivity, I began craving peppermint ice cream. Still unable to really enjoy ice cream to its fullest, I decided to try and make a cupcake version of the delicious ice cream flavour.

Vanilla mint cupcakes with peppermint cream icing-
(magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe + a few alterations)

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons pure peppermint extract
In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk, cream, vanilla and peppermint (you can mix the liquid ingredients together if you wish). With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. This recipe will make about 2 dozen standard size cupcakes or about 48 mini cupcakes. (give or take a few, depending on your how full you fill the muffin cups and how large your muffin cups actually are.)

Peppermint cream icing-

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons pure peppermint extract Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the cream and peppermint. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Chill for about 15 minutes in the refrigerator before using, and only use to ice COLD cupcakes.

Trust me. They’re delicious.

-A.

P.S. If anyone knows a brand that makes pink peppermint ice cream that is smooth and creamy and TO DIE FOR, Lemme know.

It never fails.
Every winter I get this overwhelming craving for cinnamon rolls.

It probably stems mostly from my family’s tradition of getting Cinnabon cinnamon rolls every Thanksgiving and Christmas eve. Growing up, fancy store bought cinnamon rolls were a luxury that could only be afforded for super special occasions, and originally, we only had them on Christmas eve. After a while my mom decided that Thanksgiving was a good day for Cinnamon rolls, because we ate “dinner” anywhere between 2pm and 4pm, right in the middle of the day. A nice, big, delicious cinnamon roll could tide us over until our feast was ready to be devoured… even if it did take a few glasses of milk to wash that turkey down.

But as with many things, our family has changed. Theres that whole matter of my cinnamon allergy (which I ignore each and every time I smell fresh cinnamon rolls, by the way. I’d gladly trade a swollen tongue for just one delicious cinnamon roll.) We don’t all live under the same roof, my older sister and I are not the only “kids”. My younger sisters have grown up wholly different than we did, my parents matured and are more secure financially, so there is no need to set aside special days for treats that could not be afforded during the rest of the year, and special treats like Cinnabon cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving and Christmas seem pointless to them, because they can have them whenever they’d like.

…And they don’t even LIKE cinnamon rolls.
I know. Its sad, isn’t it?

Needless to say, it just doesn’t seem right in my heart (or stomach, for that matter) to eat a Cinnabon cinnamon roll outside of Thanksgiving day or Christmas eve… But there is nothing wrong with making my OWN cinnamon rolls during the rest of the winter.

Just the other morning, early on Saturday, I found myself unable to sleep.

Its been cold and blustery up here lately, Fall seems to be turning to winter a lot faster than I remember in previous years… Or maybe I’m just getting older faster. I decided it was a great morning to wake up and make some tasty little cinnamon rolls for my husband, who was sleeping still.

Perhaps the smell of baking cinnamon and yeast dough would ‘rouse him gently, or perhaps he wouldn’t notice. Either way, I decided to make some cinnamon rolls.

The plan was simple.
Make the dough. Let it rise once, roll it out, section it off, roll those out, fill, roll up, slice, rise and bake. After they were out of the oven, I would glaze them, photograph them, feed them to my husband, and go about my day.

…but it didn’t happen quite like that.

I got through the baking part just fine. Out of the oven came amazingly delicious almond and cinnamon scented puffs of dough, oozing with buttery brown sugar filling. I placed them on a plate and iced them with an almond and vanilla flavoured thin buttery icing.

I couldn’t resist. I ate one.
Then a second one.

I didn’t feel so bad about eating two, because they were really small. I decided to feed a few to my husband while they were still warm… I’d save about half of them and just photograph those ones. It would be ok.

So I woke up my husband, and told him I made cinnamon rolls. At first he didn’t believe me, but then he smelled them. He grabbed a few and with a few “ooh’s” and “aah’s”… oh, who am I kidding.

He wolfed those puppies down.
They were gone in a flash. A few remained, but after I put the plate back in the kitchen I felt a little sleepy, so I laid down for little while and when I returned… they were gone. Only the residue of glaze remained on the plate.

…and there were tongue marks where my husband had apparently decided to try and finish that off, too.

So this morning I went for round two. Instead of almond I went with orange flavouring, but to be honest, I really enjoyed the almond better. My husband on the other hand… He says he likes the orange ones better.

So I guess its up to you which flavour you make them!
Just make them!

Teeny tiny orange (or almond) cinnamon rolls-

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1/2 cup lukewarm milk (scalded then cooled)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling-
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon orange extract (or almond extract)

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl. Stir in milk, sugar, butter, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

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Turn dough onto lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 1 1/2 hours. (dough is ready if an indentation remains when touched).

Punch down dough. Separate dough into quarters and roll each section out into flat rectangles about as thick as a flour tortilla.

In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients for the filling. Spread about a quarter of the mixture on the flat sheet of dough and roll the dough up jellyroll style. Slice each finished roll into small sections, each section being a finished miniature cinnamon roll (slices depend on your preference and conditions. You can make larger cinnamon rolls or smaller ones, almost as thin as cookies. Its up to you.) Place each finished cinnamon roll slice on end (one of the cut ends down on the baking sheet) and continue with each of the quarters of dough. Allow rolls to rise for about 35-40 minutes, then bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes (small rolls, like mine) or 20-30 minutes for standard or jumbo sized rolls.

I made tiny cinnamon rolls that were about 1″x 1 1/2″ and ended up with about 30 of them.

For the glaze, mix together a tablespoon of melted butter, a tablespoon of milk or cream, a tablespoon of orange extract (or almond extract) and 2-4 cups powdered sugar, depending on how thick you want your glaze to be. You can also add a drop of food colouring to the mix, like I did for my orange rolls. (You may need to add more or less liquid to thin out your icing, depending on how much powdered sugar you use. Since I only used 2 cups, I only needed three tablespoons of liquid-melted butter, cream and flavouring. If you start out with more powdered sugar, you will surely need more liquid, however you will end up with more icing than is needed for this recipe of cinnamon rolls. Use your own judgement and common sense.)

Glaze the rolls as soon as they’re out of the oven to seal in the softness. Let them cool for a few minutes then devour!

See.. the robot even tried to sneak one!

-A.

I like to believe that I’m a different person than I was in high school.

When I was a teenager, I was a bit of a loner. I spent the first three years of high school trying to fit in. My senior year, I decided it would just be a better idea to spend as much as possible in the art room of my small rural high school.

Sure, I had friends, but the majority of them were really just situational friends. People who I would never see again once I was in charge of my own “real life” schedule, and high school was over. But during those fragile years, I didn’t see that. I had my blinders on, and my goal was to gain as much popularity as possible.

I know I’m not the only kid who fell into this trap.

I know that many kids think that the only way to get through high school is to pretend they’re something that they’re not, and succumb to peer pressure.

Luckily, I didn’t go about my quest for popularity that way.

I never did drugs or went to rowdy parties or get suspended from school. I never ever had to go to detention or got in trouble with my parents.

Nope.

I tried to be popular by signing up to be my high school mascot…

The Spudder.

If you’re not sure what a Spudder is, it’s a potato. A large, light brown, crowned, hell-bent on glory, potato.

My duties as “the mighty spudder” included, but were not limited to-

-Drumming up support and cheers during football games.
-Partaking in my own personal dance, or.. “doing the mighty spudder”
-Instructing others how to join in. (the directions went something like *shout * “DO THE MIGHTY SPUDDER NOW! OOH- ah ah ah OOH ah ah ah OOH” and flexing my mighty shoestring arms while voguing. Yeah, its one of those “you’d have to see it” kinda deals.)
-Attending pep rallies, assemblies, all football games and related activities
-Posing for photos with adorable little kids who had no idea exactly how smelly the inside of the giant potato suit I was wearing really was.

It was really quite fun, although during the time I donned the costume, I had to maintain the façade of “unaffected teenager” because that’s what my friends were. They hated school, pep rallies, cheer. All that fun stuff.

Thusly, I never divulged my whereabouts during football season during my sophomore and junior years, instead telling my friends that I was busy with family stuff, and couldn’t hang out or whatever.

My secret stayed a secret until about a year after high school when one of my friends found a photo of me with the cheerleaders, holding onto the costume…. And I was smiling. I was actually enjoying the company of cheerleaders, and that was suspicious. I spilled my guts and told them all about my two years of service as the football season spudder.

They laughed.
I laughed.

From then on out I’ve heard constant jokes about potatoes.

My favourite was about three years ago, right around Thanksgiving, hanging out at my parents house while my mom and dad debated the differences between sweet potatoes and yams, and which was better or even acceptable for thanksgiving dinner, as well as which of the two my mom had been serving over the years.

He turned to me and said “Ooh, ooh! You should go in there and announce-‘I yam what I yam, and that’s a sweet potato”.

My recipe for sweet potato cupcakes with brown sugar butter cream cheese icing-

1/2 cup Butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup cooked, peeled and mashed sweet potatoes
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon maple or vanilla extract

Cream the butter and slowly add sugar, eggs and sweet potatoes. Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and spices together in a separate bowl. Mix the maple extract into the milk and Add dry ingredients alternately with the milk into the sweet potato mixture. ( Drier sweet potatoes might require more milk.)

Spoon the batter into lined cupcake cups. (I used parchment paper squares that I folded into the metal muffin tin)

Bake in 350° oven for 20-30 minutes. (this recipe made 36 standard cupcakes for me, though yours might vary depending on the size of your muffin cups and the thinness of your batter.)
For the icing-

1/2 cup butter
2 8oz packages cream cheese
3-4 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar

Beat together the butter and cream cheese until soft and creamy (use a stand mixer). Add in 3 cups powdered sugar. Mix until crumbly. While mixer is still on, add in the brown sugar. Depending on how soft the mixture becomes (the brown sugar will add moisture, so it will thin out the icing) add 1/2-1 cup powdered sugar until the frosting is fluffy.

Spread a generous amount of frosting on cooled cupcakes, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and top with a marshmallow, unless you’re one of those people who think putting marshmallows on top of sweet potatoes is just weird, in which case… spoon on a little whipped cream. But marshmallows work much better.

Eat and enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving day tomorrow!

-A.

Nothing makes me feel more like fall than a nice oven roasted bird.

I call this a “turkey roasted” chicken, because I prepare it just as I prepare a turkey for thanksgiving, only on a smaller scale. Also, sometime roasting a small bird like a chicken can help prepare a person for the big day… Turkey day.

My method of preparing poultry is purely reactionary.

You see, I grew up in a house where when it comes to food- “diet” means disaster, and “healthy” meant tasteless.

More often, birds like chicken and turkey were prepared as “healthy” as possible, because everyone in the house was on a “diet”.

I guess I can’t really blame my mom. I know she over cooks and under seasons the bird out of love for us. While I was growing up and shaded from worry while scientists figured out how to prevent salmonella and E.Coli poisoning, she was just trying to make dinner safe and healthy, the only way she knew how- Over cooking it and under seasoning it.

Back then, butter was the worst thing you could eat (the margarine brand “promise” used the slogan- “Get heart smart”, even though there was no proof that their margarine did anything to help a persons heart, or even that it was better than butter in the first place. Butter just got a bad rap) and seasonings just covered up the “true flavour of the meat” as my mom would put it.

…Even though I now know that seasonings are meant to enhance, not mask the flavour of the meat, and that butter helps keep the bird from drying out, and the majority of the butter actually melts off the bird and does not absorb into it, so it does not make the meat greasy, it just imbues it with a subtle creaminess and faint flavour that only butter can lend to food.

Thanksgiving day I always wondered why my dad called the turkey the “roast beast”. Besides the obvious Grinch connotations, our turkey was a little beastly. Dry, and beastly.

It was sad, because I don’t think I ever truly knew how delicious chicken and turkey can be, because the bone-dry, tasteless Fowl placed before me for evening meals was just that. FOUL. It wasn’t until I turned 20 and decided that it was high time that I conquered the bird that I really learned how to make a truely tasty one.

Between ages 20 and 24 I perfected my “turkey” seasoning. The only real difference between the way I usually prepare a chicken and a turkey, is that I usually add lemon or lime juice to the chicken rub, and I usually shove a few citrus wedges in the cavity. (I don’t typically do this for turkey because the gravy tastes a little wonky)

Otherwise, its the same, and its perfect.

Now, when I go to visit my parents, they have me prepare the bird. The greatest thing is, there is no basting necessary (though you’re more than welcome to baste! Just try and limit your basting to once or twice during the cooking process), and although there is a fairly large amount of butter being used for this recipe, if you measure the drippings, about 3/4 of it actually comes back out of the bird. AND you can make a delicious gravy with the simple addition of 2 parts flour to one part cornstarch, and a few tablespoons of milk or additional stock.

And now for the recipe-

Never Bashful with Butter’s-

Truly tasty, utterly fabulous, deliciously juicy- put it in the oven and walk away-
Turkey roasted chicken recipe (with handy conversions to adapt it to a 12-15lb turkey)

This recipe requires the mixing of and additional spice rub, one which I keep on hand for salting fries, seasoning chicken, beef, turkey, pork… fish- EVERYTHING. So before you go making your turkey/chicken rub, you’ll want to mix this up, first-

3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon tomato soup powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Stir well and store covered. This recipe yields about 1/3 cup, and you’ll only need two tablespoons of that for the recipe below.

For the Turkey roasted Chicken you will need-

1 3-5lb chicken (or a 12-15lb turkey)
1/2 Cup butter (or 1 Cup butter)
5 garlic cloves (or a full garlic bulb)
1 teaspoon fine ground sea salt (same)
2 tablespoons seasoning mix listed above (or 3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons italian seasoning (same)

Clean out and rinse off your chicken. loosen the skin of the chicken by sliding your fingers under the skin between it and the meat of the chicken breast from the top of the chest down towards the legs. Create a small pocket there, trying not to break all the way through. Think pocket, not tunnel.

Wash your hands.

Allow chicken to rest for about 10 minutes on the counter in the roasting pan you plan to roast the chicken in. Meanwhile, prepare the rub.

Roughly chop half of the garlic cloves. Crush or slice the remaining cloves. Melt half of the butter in a small bowl. When the butter is melted, mix in the chopped garlic, the salt, the special seasoning and the italian seasoning. Allow mixture to cool to a paste consistency.

Wash your hands.

Slice the remaining butter into long thin pieces. Place half of the sliced butter under the skin of one side of the chicken breast, and the other half on the other side of the chicken breast. Massage it into the meat a little.

Using your hands (and if you’re squeamish, you should probably be wearing rubber gloves) rub the butter/seasoning paste on the outside of the bird, paying special attention to the legs, thighs and breasts. Loosely pile on any extra. Place the remaining sliced or crushed garlic cloves in the chest cavity of the bird and either tie the legs together with butchers twine, or using the skewer method seen in my photos.

Wash your hands.

Create a tent with tin foil, or just cut a piece of foil large enough to drape over the top of the bird loosely so that it covers the entire breast area and legs. Lay the foil on top of the bird and lightly press it down around the edges so it doesn’t slide off when you slide the bird into the oven.

Preheat your oven to 375 and place the roasting pan on either the middle or lowest rack in the oven (depending on the size of your bird. Just make sure there is at least a “handshake’s height” between the top of the bird and the broiler element)

Roast for 2-3 hours (much longer for a turkey, follow the guidelines on the package for your specific poundage) or until the internal temperature of the thickest portion of the chicken (I usually poke into the breast from the front of the bird where the top of the shoulder would be) reaches 165-180 degrees Fahrenheit. The top of the bird should be lightly golden brown, but feel free to remove the foil and turn the broiler element on for a few minutes (keep a watchful eye on it) to acheive a crispy all over golden skin. (the chicken pictured was made without additional broiling)

Allow the chicken to rest on a board for a few minutes before removing the skewers(or twine) and carving.

Really though, I’ve been making chicken and turkey this way for a long time and for many people, and so far, no complaints, only recipe requests!

Enjoy!

-A.

I’ll say it loud, and say it proud- until Saturday, I had never had the pleasure of persimmon on my palate.

Though now that I have, I’m not sure how to feel. Apparently, Persimmons are a big thing to a lot of “foodies”, but I just don’t get it. To me, they tasted like a cross between peaches and tomatoes, only with a flavour so faint, I could barely taste anything.

There was no tart, no pop, no sweet sugary zing that comes with most fruits. It was just… there. My favourite shade of orange, but lacking any wow factor that would make me want to purchase another.

This sounds strange, but it had the texture of a cold slice of cheddar, with no noticeable fibers or juice. It was kind of dry, though it sliced up just like an unripe peach or apricot, without the pit.

Maybe it was a fluke, and persimmons might have potential, so I might give it another go if I see them at the store again.

But for right now, I’m unimpressed. Winter is too cold and dark for me to be wasting my time eating fruits that don’t make me sit up and pay attention. Compared to the tartness of a cranberry, the sweetness of an apple, the citric zing of oranges, and the juiciness of the pomegranate, Persimmons just don’t cut it.

-A.

P.S. If anyone has a good idea for a recipe using a persimmon, I might be interested in giving them another try a lot faster…. You know, if you’re on the committee for persimmon activism, or something. *smile*

When I was a kid, there was only one thing more tempting than my dad’s chocolate candy stash he kept hidden behind the coffee canister on the shelf in the kitchen that only he could reach.

…And that “thing”, was caramel.

I don’t know where the craving came from. I can’t tell you when I first tasted its richness, or when its delightfully chewy texture first crossed my palate.

I can, however, tell you about the first time indulging in my favourite candy became a “no-no” and how I landed on my orthodontist’s naughty list.

It was fairly early on when I realized how much I loathed any sort of orthodontia.

My first experience with an orthodontist yielded a mouthful of spacers, as my parents decided to act immediately on their recommendation to fit my mouth with an “oral appliance”. Basically, it was a spikey tongue guard that kept my tongue from pressing against the back of my teeth….

Conversely, it kept anything from entering my mouth as well, including food. Two weeks of spacers and suddenly I had this giant metal tongue guard in my mouth, keeping me from eating, speaking, or breathing the without some difficulty. The first night my mom took me and a couple of my friends out to dinner at the neighbourhood burger joint, sort of as a “sorry ’bout the giant metal monster in your mouth, how about we go to dinner” consolation prize.

Imagine my horror as I attempted to bite down on my burger only to realize- Oh yeah, there’s that big spikey metal in my mouth, I should probably cut this up before I try to chew it. yeah, I had to cut my burger into a million tiny bites before eating it.. With a fork. My friends all laughed. I turned red. Talk about embarrassing.

However, it only took me a few months to get settled into things, and the giant metal monster eventually became my tiny metal friend, as I found the thing was pretty fierce looking and intimidating to the schoolyard bullies. Fourth grade was a dangerous place to be.. Even more dangerous if you’re picking on the girl with the metal spikes in her mouth. *grin*

Unfortunately, about a year into my two year dental imprisonment, I had a slight mishap in the family swimming pool. I was singing “somewhere over the rainbow” in a contest with one of my friends, and I twirled a little wide, causing me to land face first, open mouth- into the edge of the swimming pool (crazy children, don’t ask).

I guess my orthodontist felt sorry for me, or maybe it was the huge hole in the roof of my mouth that caused them to end my stay and remove the appliance permanently.

I thought I was free…

But about a year later, my dentist springs it on me that I *might* need braces. *Might* meaning- Come back next week and we’ll get it started!

Anyways, this time I was older and more set in my ways. When my Orthodontist sat me down and gave me the list of “can’t do- can’t have” for my brace wearing years.. I got so mad I wanted to throw things. I think I actually cried. “They’re going to deprive me of POPCORN?!” This simply couldn’t be.. “What? NO CARAMEL EITHER!?!” *sigh* It wasn’t fair. I planned on not listening whatsoever. I mean.. really, how are they going to know if I ate caramel when they weren’t around?

Well. They knew.

And I paid for it. Not only with the obvious pain it caused by popping brackets and breaking wires… In addition to that, my orthodontist added THREE MONTHS to my “braces release date”. Apparently I as more stubborn than they thought, because by the time I reached 5 years with braces, when my original sentance was only three and a half years, I turned 16 and my parents let me decide if I wanted to keep my braces on or have them removed- BECAUSE I STILL HADN’T BEEN RELEASED.

I took the get out of braces free card, stopped by park place for my retainers and never stopped running. My orthodontist thought the whole thing was pretty funny, and as going away present, she gave me a whole pound of Brach’s caramels.

I’m a little older now, but still very much in love with all things caramel.

You can see it in the things that I bake. One of my most favourite ingredients is caramel.

So I decided today to start off my holiday candy recipe collection with a more grown up yet still classic version of the every day caramel. Something special for the holidays, or everyday…

And here is the recipe-

Hot buttered rum- cream caramels

2 cups white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup organic corn syrup
1 cup evaporated milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon butter flavouring
1 teaspoon hazelnut (or almond) extract
a pinch of ground cloves
a pinch of nutmeg
a pinch of cinnamon

Line a 9×13 inch pan with waxed paper and spray with a light coat of non-stick spray.

In a medium-size pot, combine sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, whipping cream, and butter, and heat over medium heat until it reaches 250 degrees F.

Once the mixture has reached 250 degrees, mix in the rum, butter and hazelnut extracts, as well as the pinch of ground cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix throughly. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and allow it to cool completely without being disturbed. Once the mixture has come to room temperature, chill it for about half an hour in the fridge before cutting.

Once you’ve cut the caramels into small pieces, wrap them tightly in waxed paper and keep them in a sealed container away from moisture. The amount of caramels this recipe yields varies depending on the size of your pieces, but mine were about 2″x 3/4″x3/4″ and I made 80 of them. Heh.. though you wouldn’t know it by how many have disappeared since my husband came home and found out I made caramel. HA!

If you’re looking for a fun, easy but fancy schmancy food gift for your loved ones this holiday season, I’d definately recommend this recipe. Its so simple, and so tasty. And who doesn’t love little hand wrapped caramels, anyways?

…well, besides maybe my orthodontist.

-A.

Last week I did a poll of what people wanted to see from Never Bashful with Butter over this holiday season, and I found that a lot of people wanted some holiday meal ideas with “Real food”- aka not just cupcakes (as a tear rolls down my cheek)

So I decided I’d go ahead and start posting some real dinner recipes here, so people can get some good ideas.

Honestly I’m not the biggest fan of gratuitous meat shots, and even less of a fan of gratuitous meat shots covered in gravy, so I tried to keep the photos tasteful, and to a minimum.

But I did make it, and it was EXTREMELY tasty. It was kind of like pot roast, only not as dry (or maybe I just grew up with it being extremely dry, I’m not sure).

Anywho, here is my recipe and the directions for how to make the beef brisket and gravy.
I used this recipe for the biscuits.

2 1/2 to 3 1/2lb beef brisket

2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons pink salt
Dash of paprika
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup water

The first thing I did was rough up my brisket a bit. I left the sealed package on my counter for about half an hour before starting, to loosen up the meat a bit. (don’t worry, it was still cold and well within the safe zones for food preparation) Then I rubbed the meat down with the teaspoon of lemon juice, making sure as much as possible soaked into the meat.

Mix all of the dry ingredients together, and then rub them into the lemon soaked meat. Place the brisket in a roasting pan.

At this point, I placed the beef brisket in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, uncovered. Just to sear the meat. Then I decreased the heat to 325, poured in the water and covered the roasting pan with tin foil and put it back in the oven for an hour and 50 minutes. At that point I removed the foil and poured the tablespoon of oil over top the brisket and turned the broiler on high, so I could have a crisp top layer on the meat. (you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, but it was really tasty)

Make sure to keep an eye on the brisket while its under the broiler so it doesn’t burn. I found that around 7 minutes created a nice crispy dark layer on the top without burning, but your oven might be different.

When your brisket is done, remove the pan from the oven and then remove the brisket from the pan. Set it on a plate or cutting board where the meat can cool a bit before cutting into it so it doesn’t lose all its juices.

Meanwhile, you can make your gravy.

You’ll need-

1/4 cup flour
a few teaspoons cornstarch
water for thinning

You’ll also need a whisk.

Begin whisking the meat drippings in the pan before adding the flour and corn starch. To avoid lumps, either whisk in the dry ingredients, or shake them through a sieve into the drippings.

Whisk together the ingredients in the pan. If the mixture is too thick, add more water, if the mixture is too thin, add more flour.

If you’re not concerned with the gravy being kosher, use milk instead of water for thinning the gravy. Also, you can add a little bit of butter if you’d like. (I’m always a fan of adding butter.)

Once you’ve got your gravy and your brisket has rested for about 5 minutes, you can slice it up and serve it. Just make sure you slice against the grain, or your meat will be tough and chewy.

I served it with some regular mashed potatoes, a couple biscuits and a green salad. It was SO GOOD. I don’t know why I don’t make more meals like this.

Ok, one more photo.

-A.

P.S. I’ll be posting a bunch of holiday meal ideas between now and Christmas, so keep an eye out for them. But don’t worry, the sweet treats and cupcakes will still be center stage, I promise!

Just the other day, after I posted about my beautiful garnet red pomegranate seeds, I realized I had no idea what to do with them outside of eating them plain, or in a salad.

So I scoured the internet for inspiration, and came up with a nice idea of what flavours other people thought went well with the pomegranate, and I hit the kitchen.

What I emerged with is simply delicious AND festive. This recipe could easily be made for any holiday get together. Also, it made my entire apartment smell divine.

Maple and cocoa tea cakes with pomegranate cream icing.

I also made a pot of pomegranate infused hot cocoa, and they worked quite nicely together.

I was actually pretty amazed with how well the maple, chocolate and pomegranate went together. I had found many recipes for chocolate flavoured goodies with pomegranate flavoured frostings, glazes or syrups, but the addition of the maple was iffy. I know that chocolate and maple go together well, so why not all three?

Well, it worked… And they were damn tasty, too.

So here is the recipe-

1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
4 large eggs, at room temperature
3\4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.In a small bowl, combine the flours and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually followed by the maple syrup and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into greased cupcake tins, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Pomegranate Cream icing-

1/2 cup pomegranate syrup (homemade grenadine)
1/4 cup cold cream cheese
1/2 cup cold butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar

In an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft, add the cream cheese and beat together until creamy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, until the mixture is is grainy, like breadcrumbs.

Slowly add the pomegranate syrup and beat the mixture on high for about a minute and a half, until everything is smooth, creamy and fully incorporated. Refrigerate until needed, keep leftovers sealed and refrigerated.

Sprinkle with nonpareils and brown sugar!

It really is a nice flavour combination. The cake has a sort of soft gingerbread flavour to it, and the tartness of the icing really accents the softness of the cake flavour. You could also definately serve this as a breakfast cake, or use the “waffler technique” and bake the batter in a greased non-stick belgian waffler!

However you do it, its delicious.

-A.

P.S. to make pomegranate hot cocoa, just add a tablespoon of homemade grenadine to your regular hot cocoa mix, and enjoy!

Really, this is just an excuse to show off some glamour shots of my favourite fruit, the Pomegranate.

Who could resist these glistening garnet red teardrops so ripe and juicy they burst with the slightest pressure between your teeth…

Truth is, Pomegranates are a sexy sexy fruit, and they know it.

Read more about this beautiful fruit, the mythology surrounding it, and its health benefits over at wikipedia.

Don’t worry, I’ve got neverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.coma few more of these beauties in the fridge, and I’ll be sure to share the tasty treats I make with them.

…Assuming I don’t eat them all first.

-A.

When I was a kid, my mom did the majority of the baking around the house. Occasionally my dad would fill in as short order cook when my mom didn’t feel like making dinner, or for our standard Sunday morning breakfast, but my mom.. she was the kitchen warrior.

Growing up, I had no idea how she did it.

I knew she had this Magical cookbook that she always had open when she made one of her specialties, but being a child, I had no idea what any of the words or symbols meant. I was one of those…. special children, so I always likened it to a spell book, and her wooden spoon was her magic wand. She’d throw in all these crazy things, and in the end everything ended up delicious, so long as she kept the vegetables out of the cupcakes, and kept the candy out of the vegetables.

So when I saw my mom standing over a bowl holding onto a box grater, shredding zuccneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.comhini, with a giant bag of gumdrops sitting next to where the rest of her ingredients were laid out, I panicked.

Gumdrops and zucchini? Together?

And then she laid it on me..

Not only was I going to be eating this stuff that she was mixing up, but I was going to aid her in creating it. She handed me this big mixing bowl filled about halfway up with granulated white sugar, a butter knife and the giant bag of gumdrops. She sat me down at the kitchen table and demonstrated what I was supposed to do, and then went back to grating zucchini. For a moment I was awestruck, then I complied.

I cut the gumdrop into thin slices horizontally.
I rolled them in the sugar.
I cut each of those slices into for pieces.
I rolled them in the sugar.

Then I started on the next one. All the way through the entire bag, though actually, I only got about a quarter of the way through before my complaining attracted the attention of my older sister, who was snagged and dragged into duty as soon as my mom saw that she entered the kitchen.

Then my mom did something that I was sure would lead to disaster. She mixed up the zucchini shreds with sugar, egg, oil, some powders and flours and THEN SHE DUMPED IN THE GUMDROPS.
OMG it was devastating.

I think my sister and I both cringed and ‘Ewwww’d and flailed our little arms in pseudo panic. My mom was making something brown and goopy, filled with vegetables and gumdrops and WE WERE GOING TO HAVE TO EAT IT.

Cut to 30 minutes later, when out from the depths of the oven sprang forth a tray of odd lumps that we did not quite understand how to consume, as they looked like green flecked dirty cupcakes, but smelled sweet, like something we might enjoy.

I worried this might end badly, like the time my grandma told me that it would be alright for me to eat horse chestnuts from the tree in front of our church, not realizing that they are extremely poisonous. Knowing that I didn’t want to end up in the hospital with a tube up my nose getting my stomach pumped… again, I was wary.

It only took me one bite to realize that they were the most delicious and tasty muffin/cupcake/ bread that I’d ever eaten in my entire life.

The gumdrops were dispersed perfectly throughout the body of the muffin, and when sliced through, glistened in the light like stained glass windows.

My mom had to stop me from eating them, actually. It wasn’t yet dinner time, and I was already stuffing my face full of muffins. They were light and fluffy, and - Dare I say it, MOIST!

They were amazingly delicious. Magically, the zucchini itself blended in perfectly with the rest of the muffin, and they weren’t vegetable-y at all!

But now, I’m older. You’d think I’d cringe less when I thought of strange food pairings, but I don’t. I am, however, still a huge fan of my mom’s zucchini bread muffins. They’re so good they don’t even need icing. They’re so perfect, you could double the amount of zucchini, and they’d still taste like candy.

They’re also perfect housewarming gifts when baked in loaf pans, wrapped in parchment and tied with a ribbon. They freeze well (up to 6 months wrapped in saran wrap and then again in tin foil.)

And people LOVE them.
…after they’ve gotten past the description of “Zucchini bread, with… gumdrops.. in it.”

Anyways… I’m now in posession of my mom’s “spell book”. Its full of all sorts of delicious and almost fool proof recipes that I rarely see people making now a days. Old fashioned cookies, cakes, breads.. candies.

..But best of all, my mom’s zucchini bread recipe.

And in keeping with tradition, you’ll have to read the recipe card yourself. Its forbidden to be passed along any other way.

(click the photo to enlarge it and read it.)

There is a story behind the card itself, actually.

The original recipe card was written by my great grandma on my mom’s side. She was a very youthful woman, who despite having diabetes and having been instructed by doctors to not eat any candy or sugar, she insisted to all around her that it was alright, so long as she ate them IN something. However, when she wrote out her recipes, she’d often write down healthy ingredients (with “optional” next to them), but in all actuality she’d make the recipe with the “naughty” ingredients, like candy and sugar.

Hence why the recipe card calls for coconut, when what she really used was chopped gumdrops.

My grandma changed the recipe when she wrote out her version of the recipe card, by omitting the chopped nuts and the coconut, and adding an extra 1/2 cup- 1 cup of zucchini shreds and the requisite 1 cup of chopped gumdrops in its place. This is how my mom grew up making it also, and how I grew up with my mom making it, and how I now make it, myself (you can make it any way that you want, including using whole wheat flour, adding oats, using applesauce instead of oil, or just following the recipe as it is written.)

…But we keep the recipe card reading the same as it always did. Misspellings, strange instructions and all.

Its kind of part of the magic of the family cookbook.

1 part bippity, 1 part boppity, 1 part chopped gumdrops.

-A.

P.S. if you’re going to make them as muffins, be sure to grease the muffin tin or use paper liners, and bake them for 20-25 minutes at 350, or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. The tops should be flat and crunchy. Use a knife to loosen the edges of the muffins from the pan (unless you used liners) as the gumdrops that are at the edge of the batter have a tendency to stick to the pan, but will come off easily if you are gentle!