Eggnog

Obviously, this takes longer than buying a 2 litre at IGA. Well, on the other hand, that could get kind of expensive and time-consuming for me right now... Either way, I think it's worth making it. It is soooo good.

In a heavy 2-quart saucepan, stir together 3 large eggs, 1/3 cup sugar and dash of salt until well mixed. Gradually stir in 2 1/2 cups milk. Cook over medium heat 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture just coats a metal spoon. Remove from heat. Add 1 tsp vanilla. Refrigerate for 2-24 hours.

Just before serving, beat 1 cup whipping cream, 2 Tblsp icing sugar, and 1/2 tsp vanilla with electric mixer until stiff. Reserve some whipped cream for a garnish. Gently stir remaining whipped cream, 1/2 cup rum, and nutmeg (to taste) into chilled egg mixture.

Serve topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg. YUMMY!!!

If you don't have rum, or don't want to buy any, just use some rum flavouring. Also, I found it a bit thick and added some milk.

Maple-Pecan Cookies

4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
3 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 large eggs
2 tsp maple flavoring or extract
2 2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

1. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
2. Beat sugar and butter for 2 minutes or until creamy. Reduce speed to low and beat in eggs, one at a time. Add maple extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture until blended. Stir in coconut and pecans.
3. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a 9” by 2” log. Wrap each log tightly in waxed paper. Chill at least 3 hours or until dough is firm enough to slice.
4. Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut one log into scant ½-inch-thick slices. Place slices on ungreased large cookie sheet. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until cookies become slightly firm. Cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining logs. Store cookies in tightly covered container for up to 2 weeks. (Up to 3 months in freezer.)

(I used regular flour, didn’t pack the brown sugar, used unsweetened coconut, and cut the recipe in half. It didn’t seem to hurt them any!)

Mocha Cookies

These are YUMMY for coffee/chocolate lovers.

Cookies:
Mix 1 egg and 2 Tblsp instant coffee granules until coffee is dissolved.

Add 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup softened butter or margarine, and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

Stir in 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, 1/4 tsp EACH baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Cover and chill at least one hour.

Heat oven to 375 F. Roll dough 1/4" thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with 2" cookie cutters. Place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 5-7 minutes or until set. Cool completely.

Icing:
Mix 1 3/4 cups icing sugar, 1/4 cup caramel topping, 1/2 tsp vanilla. Add 1-2 Tblsp milk to make a smooth, thin icing.

Drizzle over cooled cookies.


I didn't have caramel topping, so I made a simple, thin icing with butter, water, instant coffee and icing sugar. Yum.

Toffee Bars

Quick, easy and so good you can't stop eating them. They're on my Christmas baking list, for sure. They come from my Betty Crocker cookbook.

Mix together:
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg yolk

Stir in:
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt

Press dough in ungreased 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350* F for 25 minutes or until bars are light brown. (They will be soft.)

Immediately sprinkle 2/3 cup chocolate chips over hot bars. Let stand about 5 minutes or until soft, and spread evenly over bars. Sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped pecans over chocolate. Cool 30 minutes and then cut into bars. (I cut them 4 rows by 8 rows.)

Truffles

Okay, you have to play around with this. You can follow the recipe, or you can have a little fun. We added lots more than 1 1/2 tsp liquer in place of the vanilla, cause we just couldn't taste it. So I added a bit more icing sugar than it calls for. However, don't add too much too soon, because they get surprisingly "set" while they're chillin'.

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese (lite is fine)
3 C icing sugar
3 C semisweet (or white if you like) chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 tsp vanilla, or flavouring of your choice
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in icing sugar until well blended. Stir in melted chocolate and flavouring until no streaks remain. Refrigerate for about 1 hour. Shape into 1" balls and coat in whatever you want! (We coated white chocolate w/ rum in coconut, dark chocolate with irish cream in cocoa, and plain dark chocolate in icing sugar.)

Garlic Chicken Fried Chicken

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com, which is my new best friend. I used boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts, and I think it's probably better since the thighs are more moist than the breasts. They turned out a little like chicken fingers, and we thought they would make good sandwiches or sliced on a salad.

2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 c. seasoned bread crumbs
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. milk
1 egg
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves- pounded thin
1 c. oil for frying, or as needed

Directions:
In a shallow dish, mix together the garlic powder, pepper, salt, paprika, bread crumbs, and flour. In a separate dish, whisk together the milk and egg. Heat the oil in an electric skillet to 350 degrees. Dip the chicken into the egg and milk, then dredge in the dry ingredients until evenly coated. Fry chicken in the hot oil for about 5 min. per side, or until the chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Remove from the oil with a slotted spatula, and serve.

Pakistani Kima

For those of you with the 'more with less' cookbook this will not be a new recipe, but Karla asked for it since I love it so much. So here it is...

Saute in skillet:
3 T. butter or margarine
1 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
Add:
1 lb. ground beef
Brown well. Stir in:
1 T. curry powder (the madras curry is good since it's spicier)
1 1/2 t. salt
dash pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and tumeric
2 c. cooked tomatoes
2 potatoes, diced
2 c. frozen peas or green beans
Cover and simmer 25 min. Serve over rice.

Super Duper Zucchini Muffins

I got this recipe off the internet and modified it based somewhat on people's comments that they left on the site. So can I call it my own? : ) Here it is, and they're very tasty this way:

2 1/4 c flour (1 c white, 1 c whole wheat, 1/4 c oatmeal)
1 c white sugar
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 c shortening (I used margarine and it was fine)
1/4 c sour milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 c shredded zucchini
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c walnuts (optional)
1/4 c brown suger + 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour tin. Combine flour and sugar. Stir in baking powder, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in shortening until crumbly. Make a well in the centre, pour in milk, eggs, zucchini, and vanilla. Fill tin 2/3 to 3/4 full. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake for approximately 15 min.

I was worried that the batter was too thick, but I listened to the Muffin Queen and they turned out very well. : )

Rhubarb Crunch (the best ever)

1 c flour
3/4 c oats
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c melted butter OR margarine
1 tsp cinnamon
4 c diced rhubarb, fresh OR frozen
1 c white sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 c water
1 tsp vanilla
whipped cream

1. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix until crumbly. Press half of crumbs in a greased 9" cake pan. Cover with rhubarb.
2. Combine white sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly until thick and clear. Pour over rhubarb. Top with remaining crumbs.
3. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour. Cut in squares. Serve warm or cold with a dollop of whipped cream. Serves 6-9.

This is the best rhubarb crunch I think I've ever had! When I made it, I didn't quite melt the butter all the way; only till it was very soft and almost melted. I think that made the crumbs into bigger chunks. We had it warm with vanilla ice cream and it was phenomenal.

Trail Mix Cookies

Matthew thinks that saying things like “Rhonda’s cookie recipe” or “Robyn’s muffin recipe” is a crock because we didn’t actually make up those recipes. Well, guess what? I kinda made up this recipe. I modified an oatmeal cookie recipe because I wanted a semi-healthy cookie for the kids to take for school snacks.

Cream together:
1 cup margarine
1 cup peanut butter
½ cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar

Add, and beat till fluffy:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp water

Sift together and add:
1 ¾ cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Stir in:
3 cups oatmeal
¾ cup (more or less) chocolate chips
½ cup (more or less) each chopped dried cranberries and chopped raisins
1/3 cup (more or less) each sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts, coconut

Bake at 350 for 12+ minutes. I made quite large cookies and baked them longer than I would bake chocolate chip cookies. They weren’t as good doughy as chocolate chip cookies are.

The recipe called for more sugar, but they are quite sweet with all the chocolate and dried fruit. I might try reducing the sugar even more. I also thought about adding whole wheat flour, wheat germ, dates, dried apricots or diced apples. We’ll see. They are delicious as they are, so I might not mess with them any more. Well, I might cut down on the chocolate chips and add more raisins. It would at least make it more likely that the kids would have them for school snacks, because I would be more likely to leave them alone! Let me know if you like them.