Tis the season tralalalala falalala

I've stumbled across this really amazing blog spoonforkbacon, and I can't stop searching through their lovely pages for recipes! All of them, fabulously plated, all the recipes look absolutely delish, and they're posted with great pictures and easy to follow directions.
Ok, the real reason to my ohmygod I'm in love, love, love with this blog deal. A friend of a friend of a friend posted drippy droppy-drool worthy pictures of her home made Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn balls. And as I sat there drooling on my keyboard, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I decided on the spot, heck-yes I'm making these. Now let's get on the internet and make these. What am I doing tonight? Making bite size popcorn balls and avoiding my fav. mug post, (mostly because I'm incredibly indecisive) and can't decide which ones are my favorites.

Bite-Sized Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn Balls

 Makes 24-28

Ingredients:
5½-6 cups popped popcorn, lightly salted
 ¼ cup Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips, optional
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons honey
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 - 16 oz bag milk chocolate chips

 

Directions:
1. Place the popcorn and peanut butter chips into a large bowl and set aside.
2. Place the sugar and corn syrup into a saucepan and bring to a boil.
3. Once the mixture has reached 240°F (soft-ball stage) add the honey, peanut butter and vanilla.
4. Stir together until fully combined.
5. Pour the sugar mixture over the popcorn mixture and begin folding together until all of the popcorn mixture has been evenly coated and distributed.
6. Allow the mixture to cool slightly.
7. Once the mixture is cool enough to handle, lightly grease your hands and form golf ball sized popcorn balls.
8. Place the formed balls onto a sheet pan lined with parchment and allow to cool completely.

9. Place chocolate chips in the microwave to melt, 2-4 minutes or until melted all the way

10. Roll each ball in the melted chocolate and place back on the parchment paper

11. Once the popcorn balls have set, 2-4 hours, wrap them in plastic wrap or wax paper before serving.

(Adapted from spoonforkbacon )

More posts soon!
xxo

thanksgiving thanksgiving thanksgiving

a night full of laughs and great food, to give thanks and look around the table only to realize you have everything you need sitting next to you, and on a plate in front of you.

to hide identities I thought of a nifty way to do so! a still homey picture with some-what censored faces... ( I forgot to ask) + (we're running from the CIA....hehe just kidding)

Here are a few of my new favorites...

Cardamom Ice Cream
makes 1 to 1 1/2 quarts


2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Put all the ingredients into a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan with a lid and cook, uncovered, over medium heat, whisking occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat. Cover and let the mixture steep at room temperature for 20 minutes. Pour the micture into a shallow pan or bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill completely, 1 to 2 hours.

When the mixture is cold, pour it into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's instructions. Using a rubber spatula, transfer the ice cream to an airtight glass or plastic freezer container. Cover tightly and freeze until the ice cream is firm, at least 4 hours.

I made these little tartlets with the leftover filling

Pumpkin Brûlée Tart
Makes 2, 13 x 4" tarts

Dough;
1 1/2 cup flour ( I did half all purpose, half whole wheat)
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter, cubed

Whirl together flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse into pea-size pieces. Drizzle 1/3 c.very cold water over crumbs and pulse just until moistened.
Turn dough onto a work surface and gather into a ball, turning to combine any dry crumbs.
Divide dough in half, form each into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill at least 30 minutes.

Filling;
2 cups pumpkin puree, canned or homemade
2 large eggs

3 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups half-and-half

3/4 cup sugar, plus more for caramelizing top

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

 

 Cut dough in half and shape each piece into a rectangle. Roll each out on a lightly floured work surface into a rectangle measuring about 7 by 16 in.

Preheat oven to 375°. Lay each dough rectangle over a 4- by 13-in. tart pan with removable bottom.

Lift and lower dough into pan (pushing can cause cracking). Trim edges flush with rim of pan, using your thumb or a metal spatula.

Cut pieces of parchment paper to fit into tart shells with about 1 in. overhang on all sides. Fill shells with pie weights. Set pans on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake until dough is starting to brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool on sheet until only slightly warm, then carefully pour out pie weights and remove parchment.

Meanwhile, blend remaining ingredients (except sugar for caramelizing) in a large bowl. Pour custard mixture into prepared tart shells, dividing evenly.

Reduce heat to 325°. Bake tarts until custard is set and is slightly puffed at edges, about 30 minutes. Cool 1 hour, then chill at least 2 hours and up to 2 days, covering with plastic wrap once cold.

Remove tarts from pans and set on a serving platter. Sprinkle tops of tarts generously with sugar. Pass flame of a blowtorch over tops until sugar melts and turns golden brown. Let sugar cool until hard, then cut each tart into pieces.

 

 

 

 

xxo

tossing around some ideas

hand-crafted clay flowers on the side of the canal bank in Brugee, Belguim (from summer)

I'm always looking for new and fun ways to inspire myself to make new blog posts. I've been thinking about doing a post about my favorite teas and mugs, since you know, tis' the season to be cold and rained on. Maybe even snowed on! (SNOW, GUYS! SNOW!) Throwing around the idea for fun kitchen gadgets and some grand winter essentials. Maaaybe winter DIY's? :) Fav cookbooks even? Stay updated ladies and gents, I'll be pumping out the fun posts soon.

Lemon Ginger Zucchini Bread

As of late I've had two things on my brain, vegetables, and healthy baking. I have decided that if I'm going healthy this is going to be my extreme favorite of guilty pleasures. Lemon Ginger Zucchinni Bread! It's hearty, and has whole wheat flour in it! As well was candid ginger.

I found it on one of my most favorites of  favorited blogs. 3191milesapart. They the are two lovely ladies who wrote this wonderful book A Year of Mornings and a few other new collaberations. Maria Alexandra Vettese (MAV) and Stephanie Congdon Barnes (SCB). Their blog as well as their books are absolutely beautiful, I would recommend checking them out! Maybe even spending the day looking throughout their blog like I do.

All of these things tie into eachother! The colors, green zucchini, yellow ginger, the brown sugar and whole wheat flour add to it and create a smooth and beautiful brown that really comes out when the bread browns on the top in the oven. Zucchini and Whole wheat = healthy, Lemon = tastey, and Ginger = Laura's favorite accent spice EVER. Combimed together equals the most delicious savory and a little sweet bread loaf I have yet to come across. Bake it. Eat it. Share it. Then freeze it!

I used Whole Wheat Pastry flour instead of Whole Wheat, because whole wheat has a thicker texture, where as the pastry flour is thinner so you'll still get the whole wheat flavor without a grainy texture. I also used the grater on our food processor and found that it was as easy as one, two, three! No cut fingers, and you can avoid the zucchini that can turn to mush when using a hand held grater.

Lemon Ginger Zucchini Bread

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/2 cup crystalized ginger ( found mine at PCC, I believe you can find it at Trader Joe's too)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a large loaf pan, 9" x 5".

Place grated zucchini in a towel and wring out as much moisture as possible. Cream butter and brown sugar in a mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, mix to combine, add zucchini.

In separate bowl, mix together flours, baking soda and powder, salt and cinnamon. Toss in crystalized ginger and lemon zest. Make sure the ginger pieces are coated with flour, so they won't stick together.

Add the dry to the wet ingredients and stir to combine. Fill the prepared pan with the batter.

Bake for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out cleanly and the loaf is nicely browned on top.

Store bread at room temperature, or slice up and freeze for a nice treat later on!


From: (3191milesapart)

Almost Fall

Fall has been visting us in Seattle. Seeping through the defined line of summer and turning into fall, through the leaves changing colour and getting darker earlier.
Now is the time for light jackets, long pants, and boots, boots, boots. Then comes the rain and having everything be dark by 5 or 6:30pm.
I start school on the 24th. Not so sure that I'm ready for it, but I know I'll go into it with an open mind and open arms.

Loving the sunshine, but craving the curl-up-with-a-book and warm socks weather. This month I've got popcorn on the brain.

Mmmm mmmm yummy

Honey Caramel Corn

 

10 - 12 cups popped popcorn (around 1/2 cup kernels)

1 cup toasted pine nuts

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Sea salt

 

 

Melt butter, sugar and honey over medium heat in a medium saucepan. When mixture reaches a boil, reduce heat and simmer for three minutes. Take off heat and stir in vanilla and baking soda (the mixture will foam a little bit when you add in the baking soda) In a large bowl, toss popcorn, nuts (we went sans nuts this time) and caramel mixture to thoroughly coat. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spread popcorn on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with seat salt. Bake in oven for 45 minutes, making sure to stir at the halfway point. Allow to cool, break apart and store in an air-tight container.



(Adapted from: 3191 Miles Apart)

Dungeness Crab Cakes with Orange Tarragon Butter Sauce

Monday night I successfully hosted a dinner party!

With two of my very best friends, kind of a last (but not really the last) shi-bang before we all go our different ways for college. We made a three course dinner plan and all of it turned out fabulous. For appetizers I made Crab Cakes, Jenny (on the left!) made a delicious Caesar Salad, and for the main course, Simona (on the right!) made Steak Gyros! Mmm mm mmmmm! So good!

It was so great to hang out and to cook together. In Simona's words...in the kitchen I'm known as a little bossy (oops!) But I didn't get that vibe this time. It was all laughs and lots of pictures. :) In between courses we huddled together onto my tiny, tiny, couch and watched episodes of Supernatural. Two episdoes later...."anyone hungry?" "Let's make Gyros!" Four episodes later, "Ice cream?" Yes.
So...we sat at the table for the Crab Cakes and then migrated to the couch after that. But that's what I love, a well planned dinner party with lots of Supernatural episodes, lots of laughs, and memories I'll never forget. Here's to all of the dinner parties to come!



Dungeness Crab Cakes   (Prep Crab Cakes first, then make sauce)
with orange tarragon butter sauce
Serves 4 as a main course. 6 to 8 as an appetizer.

10 ounces cooked Dungeness crabmeat, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
3 tablespoons diced red bell pepper, we used orange! ahhh food police!3 tablespoons diced shallots
3 tablespoons chopped parsley, skipped it this time
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 large egg
Pinch kosher salt
Pinch ground white pepper
Dash Tabasco sauce
Pinch celery salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
4 tablespoons clarified butter or canola oil


Prep
Thaw crabmeat if frozen. Gently squeeze crabmeat to remove excess moisture, breaking up any larger pieces.

In a large bowl, mix together 3/4 cup of the panko (reserving the remaining 3/4 cup for coating), bell pepper, shallots, parsley, lemon juice, sherry, cream, egg, salt, pepper, Tabasco, celery salt and paprika. Combine thoroughly to make a batter. Add crabmeat and mix well. Divide mixture into 8 (or 12) balls. Using hangs, form patties and coat with the remaining panko. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 1 hour.


** While your crab cakes are chilling in the refridgerator lets switch to making the Orange Tarragon Sauce!

Orange Tarragon Butter Sauce
Yield: 1 cup

1 teaspoon canola oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
1 cup Chardonnay
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons fresh tarragon leaves (about 5 sprigs), chopped, or 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
1/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into small pieces
Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper


In a wide 2-quart saute pan, heat oil over medium heat and saute shallots until translucent. Add wine and orange juice. Bring mixture to a roiling boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until mixture reduces to about 3/4 cup of liquid, about 15 to 20 minutes. Add cream and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to medium and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until about 3/4 cup liquid remains, about 10 to 12 mintues. Add tarragon and stir. Add butter a piece at a time, stirring until well incorporated. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

** Back to the Crab Cakes!

In a large skillet or nonstick pan, heat clarified butter or oil over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke. Reduce heat to medium and add crab cakes. Sear until coating is golden brown and lightly crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Add more butter or oil as needed to the pan to prevent crab cakes from sticking.
Serve with Orange Tarragon Butter Sauce. 

Enjoy everyone!

xxo Laura

Do you guys like the new layout?

It's very pink.....but also something new! I'll try it out and see how it goes.


Sorry I've beem MIA, but I have stories and recipes and my oh my. Everything good :) Headed to bed now, but new posts start tomorrow!
Excited? I AM.

xxo Laura