Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Monday, November 27, 2017

Candied Fruit Christmas Muffins #MuffinMonday

Candied fruit Christmas muffins are made with a sweet, but not too sweet, vanilla crumb, filled with a mix of chewy fruit. They smell wonderful while they bake, filling the house with the sweet scent of Christmas. Perfect for a holiday breakfast or snack time with a hot cup of tea.

Food Lust People Love: Candied fruit Christmas muffins are made with a sweet, but not too sweet, vanilla crumb, filled with a mix of chewy fruit. They smell wonderful while they bake, filling the house with the sweet scent of Christmas. Perfect for a holiday breakfast or snack time with a hot cup of tea.


I came across a recipe recently for packaging up muffin mixes as gifts over on the BBC Good Food site and I thought, what an excellent idea!  Not that I was going to make the mixes to give away – I don’t have enough friends nearby who like to bake – but the muffins called for mixed fruit with candied peel.

I don’t know if it’s nostalgia for my grandmother’s fruitcake – she made the only version I would ever eat, not too dry with the just the right mix of fruit and nuts – but candied fruit always makes me think of Christmas. What could be better for this month’s Muffin Monday than a candied fruit Christmas muffin in anticipation of the holidays?

I used my favorite make-ahead breakfast muffin recipe but I cut back on the sugar because of all the candied fruit. These are sweet enough, I promise.

Candied Fruit Christmas Muffins


The chewy fruit and spices make these muffins smell and taste like Christmas. Put these in the oven on Christmas morning and your family will pop out of bed to find out what you are baking!

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
1/2 cup or 100g sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 150g candied fruit peel and fruit medley, plus a little extra for garnish, if desired
1 cup or 240ml milk
1/2 cup or 120ml canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Generously grease cups and top of 12-cup muffin tin or line your pan with muffin paper cups.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, mixed spice and salt, along with the candied fruit. Use your clean hands to mix the fruit in, rubbing the pieces between your fingers to separate those that are stuck together so they can be coated with the flour mixture.





In another bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, vanilla and eggs.



Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold just until dry ingredients are moistened. 



Divide your batter relatively evenly between the 12 muffin cups and top with a few pieces of candied fruit.

Food Lust People Love: Candied fruit Christmas muffins are made with a sweet, but not too sweet, vanilla crumb, filled with a mix of chewy fruit. They smell wonderful while they bake, filling the house with the sweet scent of Christmas. Perfect for a holiday breakfast or snack time with a hot cup of tea.


Bake 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden.

Food Lust People Love: Candied fruit Christmas muffins are made with a sweet, but not too sweet, vanilla crumb, filled with a mix of chewy fruit. They smell wonderful while they bake, filling the house with the sweet scent of Christmas. Perfect for a holiday breakfast or snack time with a hot cup of tea.
Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Candied fruit Christmas muffins are made with a sweet, but not too sweet, vanilla crumb, filled with a mix of chewy fruit. They smell wonderful while they bake, filling the house with the sweet scent of Christmas. Perfect for a holiday breakfast or snack time with a hot cup of tea.




Check out all the other wonderful muffins my Muffin Monday group is sharing today!

Muffin Monday

 #MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

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Food Lust People Love: Candied fruit Christmas muffins are made with a sweet, but not too sweet, vanilla crumb, filled with a mix of chewy fruit. They smell wonderful while they bake, filling the house with the sweet scent of Christmas. Perfect for a holiday breakfast or snack time with a hot cup of tea.
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Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Cinnamon Pumpkin Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

Tender pumpkin insides and crunchy sugar outsides make these cinnamon pumpkin cookies perfect for your holiday table.

Food Lust People Love: Tender pumpkin insides and crunchy sugar outsides make these cinnamon pumpkin cookies perfect for your holiday table. Mix up a batch of these fabulous cookies for your next gathering.

I love the sparkle of demerara sugar. Rolling the cinnamon pumpkin cookie dough in those big sugar crystals is what makes these cookies special, plus it also makes the dough less sticky and easier to shape.

If you can’t find it in your local supermarket or bakery supply store, you can order it from Amazon.  <affiliate link*. I use it on all sorts of baked goods, when a little shine is welcome, like my chili maple bacon cookies and blueberry pie with polenta shortcake crust. It also makes a rich and wonderful simple syrup to use in cocktails like an Irish blackberry cobbler or pomelo margaritas.

But this month for our Creative Cookie Exchange, we are sharing cookies that make an easy, last minute Thanksgiving holiday dessert or treat so I made cinnamon pumpkin cookies. They can be made ahead, frozen, and baked when needed, so you are ready at a moment's notice when unexpected guests arrive. Or you can bake them ahead of time and freeze them after. They thaw almost instantly, always a plus for a busy holiday.

Mix up a batch of these fabulous cookies for your next gathering. I almost called these pumpkindoodles, you know, like snickerdoodles but pumpkin. But there is nothing absent-minded about that crunchy demerara sugar. It's all there.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Cookies


Ingredients for about 2 dozen cookies
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup or 100g soft dark brown sugar
1/2 cup or 113g butter, softened
2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses
1 large egg
3/4 cup or 150g canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) or steamed, mashed fresh pumpkin

For rolling the dough:
1 cup or 220g Demerara or other large grained sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method
Whisk together your flour, salt, baking powder and ground cinnamon in bowl. Set aside.

With your hand beaters or in the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together the brown sugar, butter and molasses.

Tip: The molasses will slide easily off of your measuring spoon if you give it a quick spray with Pam or your favorite non-stick spray first.

Add in the egg and pumpkin and beat for another minute or so, scraping down the bowl halfway through.


With the beaters on low, add in the flour mixture a little at a time, until it is fully incorporated.


Line a baking pan with parchment and use a scoop or a couple of tablespoons to divide the soft dough into about 24-26 portions. Pop the pan into the freezer and set a timer for about 45 minutes, if you are planning to bake the same day.


Meanwhile, mix the demerara sugar with the ground cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.

When the dough is almost finished chilling, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your cookie pan by lining it with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

Remove only 12 (or however many cookies your pan can fit) pieces of dough from the freezer.

Roll each into a ball and pop it in the bowl of cinnamon sugar. Shake the bowl to coat. Use your hands to press each ball into a disk shape and press both sides of the disk back into the cinnamon sugar.

Food Lust People Love: Tender pumpkin insides and crunchy sugar outsides make these cinnamon pumpkin cookies perfect for your holiday table. Mix up a batch of these fabulous cookies for your next gathering.

Place them on the prepared pan.

Food Lust People Love: Tender pumpkin insides and crunchy sugar outsides make these cinnamon pumpkin cookies perfect for your holiday table. Mix up a batch of these fabulous cookies for your next gathering.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 12-14 minutes, or until the cinnamon pumpkin cookies are puffed and set. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before serving or storing in an airtight container.

Food Lust People Love: Tender pumpkin insides and crunchy sugar outsides make these cinnamon pumpkin cookies perfect for your holiday table. Mix up a batch of these fabulous cookies for your next gathering.

Repeat with the remaining dough, until all the cookies are baked.

Alternatively you can completely freeze the dough pieces so they won’t stick together, then transfer them to a Ziploc bag. Keep them frozen until you are ready to bake. Remove just the number you want to bake from the freezer. Let them thaw just enough so you can roll them into balls and continue with the instructions for rolling them in the sugar, shaping and baking.

I’ve tested it both ways and the cookies turn out great either baked the same day or after freezing the dough.

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Tender pumpkin insides and crunchy sugar outsides make these cinnamon pumpkin cookies perfect for your holiday table. Mix up a batch of these fabulous cookies for your next gathering.

Are you needing last minute treat recipes for Thanksgiving? Check out all the cookies we’ve got for you today!

Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life. We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life. We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

*Disclaimer: Amazon affiliate links earn me a few pennies when you make a purchase by following one, even if you don't buy the item I've listed. Your cost remains the same.

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Food Lust People Love: Tender pumpkin insides and crunchy sugar outsides make these cinnamon pumpkin cookies perfect for your holiday table. Mix up a batch of these fabulous cookies for your next gathering.
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Sunday, December 18, 2016

Tuna Salad Stuffed Deviled Eggs

Mix all the ingredients that make you love tuna salad with egg yolks and pile them in your egg whites to make tasty tuna salad deviled eggs. These are great for a party or a picnic.


For many of the years we lived in Malaysia I held multiple roles at the American Association of Malaysia or AAM. As publications director, I was a voting member of the board of governance for the organization and responsible for our three major publications, the A-Z Directory – a sort of Yellow Pages, the Selamat Datang – our resource book of cultural/educational information for newcomers, and our monthly magazine, the KL American. My other roles were editor of all three and webmaster for our website KLAmerican.com. Busy but productive times!

The board of directors met each month and since the meeting was often scheduled through lunchtime, we’d bring dishes to share. Once, early on, I brought some party sandwiches, the kind without crusts, cut into fancy triangles. The president of the board took her first bite, stopped short and said, “What did you put in your egg salad? Is that tuna?” My response was an incredulous look. “Egg salad? That’s tuna salad! Do you not put eggs in your tuna salad?”

Where I come from tuna salad always has chopped boiled eggs in it. But after an informal poll of the other board members, there seemed to be a cultural divide between northern and southern states. Up north, or so they told me, tuna salad does not have eggs. The funny thing is, they all loved my sandwiches and declared that from then on, they’d be adding eggs. Score one for the southern home team!

A couple of weeks ago I was home alone, busy working, and I decided to make some tuna salad for lunch. I put eggs on to boil. For once, they peeled beautifully. Much too beautifully to be chopped for tuna salad. That’s when the idea struck me. Tuna Salad Deviled Eggs! It’s tuna salad for the low carb crowd. And while those little triangle sandwiches are also great for parties, I have never returned from a potluck with even one deviled egg left on my plate. People love deviled eggs and that's a fact.

I am not a big believer in pickles or celery or other extraneous chopped things in my tuna salad, but if you are, feel free to make this your own by adding some. Sometimes I’ll put a little grated onion but that’s the limit for me. It’s a textural thing.

Ingredients
6 large eggs
1 can tuna chunks in water, drained (drained weight 4.25 oz or 120g)
6 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
Hot sauce, to taste – optional (in other kitchens, not in ours)

To garnish:
Slices of onion
Sprinkle of cayenne pepper or paprika

Method
Hard boil and peel six large eggs. Cut them in half.
Scoop the yolks out and into a small mixing bowl. Dry the whites with a paper towel and arrange them on a decorative platter.
Mash the yolks together with the tuna, mayonnaise, mustard and hot sauce of your choice, if using. I make my own habanero sauce which must go in any tuna, chicken or egg salad. (By the way, my chicken salad also has eggs, as does my potato salad. Just so you know.)


Spoon the tuna mixture into the egg whites. Garnish with some onion and a sprinkle of cayenne or paprika, if desired.


Enjoy!

Whether you are hosting your own holiday party or just need recipes for dishes to take along to a potluck holiday dinner, Sunday Supper is here to help. Many thanks to our host this week, Caroline of Caroline's Cooking and our event manager, Cricket of Cricket's Confections.

Appetizers

Beverages

Finger Foods

Mains

Desserts


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Thursday, December 15, 2016

Coconut Snowball Mini Bundts #BundtBakers

Coconut snowball mini Bundts are subtly coconutty inside and full-on coconutty outside. Best of all, they look like small snowballs, perfect little sweet gifts for your neighbors and friends. If you can bear to give them away.



This month our Bundt Bakers’ theme is Winter Wonderland so we’ve got lots of great cakes for you with holiday flavors. I wasn’t sure if coconut was necessarily a traditional choice but last weekend I was at a friend’s house and one of her current food magazines had a gorgeous photo of a three-layer coconut cake with the caption: The only Christmas cake you need to make. Or something like that.

We all agreed that it would never be the only Christmas cake one needs to make, because it’s clearly not actual Christmas cake as we know it. But it would be nice, if you like coconut. Which I most certainly do. With that in mind, I baked these little coconut Bundts, because they look like snowballs.

Ingredients
For the cake batter – fits one Nordic Ware Duet pan
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/2 cup or 120ml coconut oil, at room temperature
1/2 cup or 120ml coconut cream
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder

For the frosting:
1/3 cup or unsalted butter or vegetable shortening, or a combination
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups or 312g powdered sugar
1 to 3 tablespoons coconut cream

For decoration:
2 cups, not tightly packed, or 195g sweetened shredded coconut

Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Grease and flour your Bundt pan. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat all of the cake batter ingredients at low speed until well mixed, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently with a rubber spatula.

Put it all in at once. Super easy.

Increase the beater speed to medium and beat for five minutes, stopping every couple of minutes to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.


Slowly pour the batter into your baking pan.  Smooth out the top with your rubber spatula. This is a Nordic Ware Duet pan.


Bake in your preheated oven for 32-38 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and cool for about 10 minutes. The tiny Bundts should begin pulling away from the sides of the pan.

To make the frosting: Beat the butter and/or shortening until fluffy. Beat in the salt and vanilla. Add a tablespoon of coconut cream.



Sift the powdered sugar into the mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the rest of coconut cream a little at a time till you get soft spreadable frosting.



Frost the mini Bundts liberally, then cover with coconut, gently pressing it into the frosting so it sticks. You can leave the hole empty so they still look like mini Bundts or fill the holes with coconut for more of a snowball effect.



Enjoy!


Many thanks to our host this month, Laura from Baking in Pyjamas. Check out all the other Winter Wonderland Bundts.

BundtBakers  

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Cranberry Sweet Rolls #BreadBakers

Cranberries are the darling of this season, showing up in savory and sweet recipes. (For those of us who can't get Florida Strawberries!) They add both sweetness and a welcome tart bite to these cranberry sweet rolls. Perfect for Christmas morning. Or any morning, really.


If you’ve been reading this space for a while, you might remember that I started Bread Bakers with my friend and fellow blogger Renee at Magnolia Days in September of 2014. As a group, we've been baking bread and growing like a good sourdough starter ever since. Twelve bakers took part in that first group event. This month, more than two years on, we have 16 delicious sweet yeast breads to share with you. Some months we’ve had 29 or 30 but I’m happy with 20 in a busy month like December.

Part of our Bread Bakers blurb talks about members taking turns choosing the theme or main ingredient and hosting the event each month. Because everyone is so willing to step forward, I haven’t actually hosted for ages, just played a supporting role to whoever was in charge. This month I’m stepping in to host! Our theme was chosen by Laura of Baking in Pyjamas who unfortunately had to drop out this month. I am delighted to fill in.

My cranberry sweet rolls are a seasonal take on cinnamon rolls, but with a buttery enriched dough and homemade cranberry filling. Make sure to follow my instructions to set aside a little of the filling for topping as well. That bright red on top makes them even more festive. If you want to enjoy these freshly baked for breakfast, follow the alternative instructions for the second proofing.

Don't forget to scroll down and check out all the other sweet yeast breads we’ve baked for you this month, perfect for the holiday season.

Ingredients
For the enriched dough:
1/2 cup or 120ml warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 envelope fast-acting yeast (1/4 oz or 7g)
1 1/2 cups or 190g all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup or 57g butter, very soft but not melted

For the filling:
3/4 cup or 150g sugar
1/4 cup or 60ml water
1/4 cup or 60ml fresh orange juice
Zest of 1/2 orange (save other half for decoration)
2 cups or 210g fresh or frozen cranberries

For the glaze:
3/4 cup or 95g powdered sugar, sifted
3-4 teaspoons milk

Method
Make the filling first so it has time to cool:
In a large saucepan, bring sugar, water, orange juice and cranberries to a boil. Cook, uncovered, until cranberries begin to pop, just a few minutes. Reduce heat; simmer 15 minutes longer or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Stir in orange zest; cover and set aside to cool.



Line the bottom of an 9 in or 23cm round baking pan with baking parchment.

To make the dough: Place the water, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Let the mixture rest for a few minutes to activate the yeast.

Add in the flour and salt. Mix well until a soft dough forms. Keep your mixer on medium speed and add in the butter a tablespoon or so at a time, mixing until the butter is incorporated each time.



Cover the bowl with some cling film or a damp towel and set aside to rest for 15 minutes. With rapid rise yeast, this rest takes the place of the first full proofing. This quite a soft dough.


On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a rectangle about 12x15in or 31x38cm.



Spread all but about 1/4 cup or 75g of the filling on the dough rectangle, going all the way to the sides but leaving a bit empty at the end. Save the balance for decoration.



Roll the dough up as tightly as you can manage, jellyroll style, ending at the empty end so it can seal itself as you finish the roll. Cut the roll into six equal pieces.



Place the cut rolls into your prepared pan.

Cover with cling film and set in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until doubled in size. (Alternatively, if you want to bake fresh for breakfast in the morning, you can now put the sweet rolls in the refrigerator to rise more slowly overnight. Take them out in the next day and put them in a warm place while you preheat your oven.)



When the last rise time is almost up, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the tops are golden.



Remove from the oven and leave to cool before adding the glaze.

To make the glaze, add the milk by teaspoons to the powdered sugar, stirring well in between, until you reach a good drizzling consistency.

Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cranberry sweet rolls. Add dollops of the reserved cranberry filling in between. Sprinkle with the remaining orange zest.



Enjoy!

Check out all the great sweet yeast breads!

BreadBakers
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Silver Bell Sugar Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

A great sugar cookie recipe that actually keeps its shape when baked. Mix up your sparkling sugar decorations using both crystal white and silver to make your silver bell sugar cookies really shine. And don't forget the silver dragées for the clappers.


If you look back through my recipe archives, there is not a single cookie that’s been rolled and cut out with a cookie cutter to be baked and decorated. Not one. And in last five and half years I have shared 53 cookie recipes. I just counted.

When my girls lived at home, baking sugar cookies was a fun activity year-round but we really got into them – and making gingerbread men to decorate - just before Christmas. A couple of summers ago, I invited my small nieces over for a sugar cookie baking/decorating session where as many sprinkles were consumed directly as were put on cookies. But we had a lot of fun!


And since they didn't care about anyone else's idea of perfection, their cookies were fabulous and creative and beautiful.


Tip: For children (or adults who need more encouragement), fill squeezy bottles with the royal icing. They are much easier to handle than piping bags.

I’ve finally figured out that what I mind about making these things is not the time or the patience they require but the lack of company in my kitchen. So here’s my recommendation to you. Put on the holiday tunes. Mix up a batch (or two) and invite some friends or family over to decorate with you. Of course, you don’t have to make silver bell sugar cookies. Use your own favorite cookie cutters and colored sprinkles. And while this is a great time of the year to get together, sugar cookie baking sessions can be fun all year round.

Ingredients for about 40 small cookies
For the cookies:
1/2 cup or 113g unsalted butter, slightly softened to room temperature
1/2 cup or 100g granulated sugar
White of large egg, at room temperature (about 40g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups or 218g all-purpose flour, plus a bit more if needed for rolling
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the royal icing:
1 1/4 cups or 156g powdered sugar + more as needed
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
pinch salt
1 egg white (about 40g)

Important: Uncooked egg whites should not be served to anyone with a compromised immune system, unless those whites are from pasteurized eggs. Substitute an equivalent combination of powdered egg whites and water, according to the package instructions.

For decorating:
Assorted sprinkles
Silver dragées for the bell clapper, if desired

Method
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, soften the butter by beating it for a minute or so. Add in the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl occasionally, as needed.

Add in the egg white and vanilla and beat again until they are fully incorporated.



Add in the flour a bit at a time until it is completely mixed in and you have a soft dough that is firm enough to roll out.



Divide the dough into two pieces and roll them each out on parchment paper until they are about 1/4 in or 1/2 cm thick. Sprinkle on a tiny bit more flour if you must to keep the dough from sticking to your rolling pin. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least one hour or until ready to bake.



Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Line your baking sheets with more parchment or silicon liners. If they are well chilled you can put these cookies fairly close together as they should not spread or puff very much. Well-chilled is key. 

Remove one rolled dough circle from the refrigerator and cut out your cookies with a cookie cutter. Use a flat spatula to transfer them quickly to the prepared cookie sheet.



Bake in the preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes or until the edges are just beginning to brown.

Remove and leave to cool completely before decorating. Continue the process until all the dough has been cut out and baked.



NOTE: Always add newly cut cookies to a cool lined cookie sheet before baking. Putting them on a hot pan will cause the butter to melt out prematurely. Having two or three pans to rotate is helpful.

Once the cookies are completely cooled, make the royal icing. Sift the powdered sugar, cream of tartar and pinch of salt into a mixing bowl.

Add in the egg white (see important note above) and whisk it in a little at a time from the middle, until all is incorporated.

Partially mixed in. Just keep whisking from the sides until all is incorporated.
Check the consistency of the icing by lifting your whisk and allowing it to drip back into the bowl. Too runny? Add more powdered sugar. Too firm? Add a drop or two of water. You want to be able to pipe it but have it keep its shape.

Spoon some of the icing into your piping bag fitted with a #3 tip. Pipe a royal icing outline of the cookie and pop on a silver dragée for the clapper, if using.



Outline all of the cookies and leave the royal icing to harden before you move on to the next step.

Cover the royal icing bowl with a piece of damp paper towel, then cling film and refrigerate. When the outlines are hard, remove the royal icing from the refrigerator so it can warm up a bit, and stir to loosen up.

Set up your decorating station putting one small saucer for each color of sprinkle or decoration you are using. This will allow you to reunite the sprinkles that fall off with their similarly colored brethren when all this is over.

Put the cookie in the first saucer and use a spoon to add a puddle of royal icing into the middle of the cookie. Spread it around right up to the hard outlines with a toothpick or even a clean paintbrush.

Add some sprinkles. Shake the cookie so loose sprinkles fall back in the saucer.

Move the cookie to the second saucer and add the next color sprinkles. Shake the cookie so loose sprinkles fall back in that saucer.



And so on.

Place finished cookies in a safe place where they can dry until completely hardened before trying to stack, package or transport them.



Enjoy!

This month my Creative Cookie Exchange group is sharing decorated cookies, perfect for the holidays or whatever you feel like celebrating!


Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life. We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life. We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

Pin it! 

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Sunday, November 6, 2016

Cheesy Jalapeño Corn Casserole

If you are a fan of cheese and spice and corn, you are going to love this cheesy jalapeño corn casserole. The whole dish is great, but that golden top is the absolute best part.



I must confess that in my family we have a standard set of sides that must be made for Thanksgiving and Christmas and this cheesy jalapeño corn casserole isn't on that list. Not because it’s not perfectly spicy, cheesy and delicious. No, it's because that list was set in stone many years ago and no one is allowed to alter it. In fact. lest we forget, the list is kept at the front of my recipe binder, in a little pocket. Along with the turkey and stuffing, we must have rich creamed potatoes, sticky sweet potatoes, maque choux, green beans with baby new potatoes and, of course, my aunt's best pecan pie for dessert. Is it only my family that is so set in our ways?

If your family is not as persnickety about the holiday menu, you’ll want to add this casserole to your line up. Never mind, if they are. Just make it for a Sunday Supper.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 fresh jalapeño or part thereof- depending on your heat tolerance - minced
2 tablespoons onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese, about 12 oz or 340g
4 cups or 540g fresh or frozen corn kernels
2 eggs
1 cup or 240ml milk

Method
Use one tablespoon of the butter to sauté the onion, garlic and jalapeño in a small saucepan, over a very low heat, just until softened, about 5-7 minutes. The onion doesn’t need to color, just soften. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and use the other tablespoon of butter to grease your casserole dish.

Toss together cheese, flour, mustard powder, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add in the corn and mix well. Set aside.




Beat the eggs and whisk in the milk and the sautéed vegetables.



Pour milk/egg mixture in the corn/cheese mixture; stir well to blend evenly.



Pour the combined mixture into your buttered casserole dish. It looks a bit dry on the top but don't worry, the egg and cheese will rise up and created a beautiful almost soufflé like texture throughout.


Bake in your preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until puffy and golden on top. The middle should be ever so slightly jiggly when you take it out and will firm up as it cools.



Enjoy!



Check out all the other special tasty side dishes our Sunday Supper tastemakers are sharing today! Many thanks to this week's host, Caroline of Caroline's Cooking and our event manager, Renee of Renee's Kitchen Adventures for all of their hard word.

Fruity Side Dishes

Other Side Dishes

Potato Side Dishes

Vegetable Side Dishes



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