Chewy Ginger Cookies

So this is the recipe I've taken to making lately when I make Ginger cookies. It has a few more spices than the previously posted recipe, (which I'm leaving up because it's Mom's original one) but for the most part though, they are incredibly similar ingredient and even measurement~wise. I've just found I prefer the taste of these ones...warm and chewy and filled with Christmas~y memories!

DRY INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt

WET INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp water (some people recommend using orange juice)
• 1/4 cup molasses

• 2 Tbsp white sugar for rolling cookie dough balls

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
2. Cream together butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg then stir in water and molasses. Gradually add sifted ingredients to wet ingredients. Shape dough into balls and roll in 2 Tbsp of sugar to coat. Let chill in fridge for an hour or so, even overnight if convenient.
3. Place cookies 2" apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake w/o flattening balls to get a crackle on top.
4. Bake for 8-10 min. in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet to settle, approx. 5 min. before removing to wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Don and I both agreed that this was the best thing on the table for Thanksgiving this year! We ended up being so busy with preparations that I completely forgot to make the pie and didn't remember until we were sitting down to dinner. Don said though that these were so good we didn't even need pie, which made me feel a lot better! :) Our crumble/streuesel topping didn't turn out looks~wise (ended up more mushy then crumbly-I think our butter was too soft), but taste-wise was still awesome. 

No marshmallows on top this year, but that's probably for the best. While I like the look of the roasted marshmallows on top, the leftovers will keep better this way. Leftover marshmallow topping never works out. I've discovered from previous years that it gets all slimy and gross and we end up peeling it all off anyways. Our version ended up being a slight adaptation b/w this recipe and this recipe. which are pretty much identical except for a couple of ingredients and preparations. 
   

INGREDIENTS for SWEET POTATOES:

• 4 cups peeled and cubed sweet potato (This ended up being about 2 medium-large potatoes)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 Tbsp milk (Original recipe calls for heavy cream, but we didn't have any. If you happen to have cream on hand, I imagine it would be good. Milk worked out just fine though.)

INGREDIENTS for TOPPING:

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter softened (room temp.)

PREPARATION:

1. Put cubed sweet potatoes in medium saucepan with enough water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.
2. Preheat the oven to 325.
3. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the sweet potatoes and mix until smooth. Transfer to baking dish. (Both original recipes called for a 9x13 but we ended up using an 8x8 and it worked out great.)
4. In a medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour together. Cut butter into mixture with pastry blender  or fork until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Sprinkle over sweet potato mash.
5. Bake for 30 min. in preheated oven, or until topping is crisp and lightly browned.

Puffed Wheat Squares!

It's kind of funny, the things that you discover are 'Canadian' treats once you leave Canada. Like things you don't even give a thought to and sometimes don't even notice are missing. I remember one time a few years back when Don was working with a fellow Canadian at work he came back asking me about something called a 'Ninamus" and I had no idea what on earth he was describing. Turns out he was talking about Nanaimo Bars, hahaha. Eventually I will have to make those and share that here, but today, this is about Puffed Wheat Squares!

Who knew that these were a Canadian treat? I remember bringing it up one time saying I liked them and Don had no clue what they were. We then searched the internet for them and discovered that apparently it is something that is more common/popular in Canada. Curious and Curiouser! So for anyone who has not had them before, let me *formally* introduce you! They are similar to a Rice Krispie treat, but they are instead of Rice Krispies they use Puffed Wheat and instead of a marshmallow base, it's chocolate, yum! I found a couple of recipes and then narrowed it down to one where the amounts and ratios seemed most reasonable to me and tried it out last night. They were delicious and chewy! If not maybe a little bit too sweet? Checked a couple other recipes and here is my  ever so slightly adapted version of The Casual Bakers recipe. One of the wonderful things about these are that they whip up fast and you don't even have to use the oven at all! 

Oh, and one last note. I remembered this treat awhile back but never attempted it because I couldn't find any Puffed wheat locally - which could be why it's more popular in Canada, you can get Puffed wheat easily in your regular grocery store. Recently though, when Don and I were walking our local Walmart cereal aisle I noticed they had started carrying it! It was stashed away in the corner at the very end of the aisle! Success!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup corn syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (Original recipe called for 1/2 cup. I think it would be fine going for half that, Don thinks that's too extreme and maybe 1/3 cup?)
• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 6-8 cups puffed wheat (I used 6, but I can see stretching it out over 1-2 cups more to spread out the concentration of chocolate/gooeyness. You'll have to try it out for yourself. Maybe start with 6 and then add more as you're mixing if you want to?)

PREPARATION:

1. Lightly grease a baking pan. We did ours in an 8x8, which left us with 2" thick squares. You could use a 9x13 I think for 1" squares if you're wanting to spread them out and cut more squares for serving a crowd.
2. Measure out puffed wheat into a large mixing bowl. I'd say you would only want it about half full with your puffed wheat or else when you mix it you'll send puffed wheat flying all over your counters!
3. Combine all  remaining ingredients except for the vanilla in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly. Original recipe says to use a wooden spoon. I ended up using a silicon spatula. I think pretty much anything that can withstand the heat and won't add a taste to your base would be fine.
4. As soon as recipe starts boiling continue mixing over heat for 2 min. If you want your squares to stay chewy and gooey you have to be careful here. If you over boil your mixture it'll end up tough!
5. Remove mixture from heat and add in vanilla and stir a couple times to combine.
6. Pour entire mixture over puffed wheat in large mixing bowl and quickly stir to evenly coat.
7. Pour coated mixture into greased pan and press the mixture evenly into pan using spoon, or spatula. Original recipe says you can also use your hands to press into pan, but dang, that mixture is hot so I don't know if I would recommend doing it that way.
8. Cool, slice and keep stored in an air-tight container. I'm thinking I might try and do puffed wheat balls around the holidays similar to popcorn balls!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Made this for the first time last year for Thanksgiving, and it was awesome! Plan to make this a tradition, liked it even more than regular pumpkin pie. Found it originally here, but there are so many different versions there decided to put it here for quick reference :)

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 (9") prepared graham cracker crust
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup frozen whipped topping thawed (Optional)

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Blend in eggs one at a time. Remove 1 cup of batter and spread into bottom of crust; set aside.
3. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg to the remaining batter and stir gently until well blended. Carefully spread over the batter in the crust. 
4. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 min., or until center is almost set. Allow to cool, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Cover w/ whipped topping before serving. 

Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12 oz. pkg) chocolate chips

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit 
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets
4. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies. 

Oreo Truffles

Seriously quick and easy dessert.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pkg of OREO's (15.5 oz.)
• 1 pkg of cream cheese (8 oz.)
• 2 pkg BAKER's semi-sweet chocolate. melted (16 oz. total)

PREPARATION:

1. Crush entire package of OREO's. (Reserve about a cup of crushed cookie crumbs to use as topping for finished truffles.)
2. Combine remaining cookie crumbs with cream cheese. Mix until well blended.
3. Form mixture into 1" balls.
4. Dip into melted chocolate and sprinkle tops with reserved cookie crumbs.
5. Refrigerate until firm, approximately 1 hour. Store in airtight container in fridge. 

Jook or Rice Congee Starter

Jook, essentially a rice broth or porridge, to me is the equivalent to how I imagine most people feel about Chicken Noodle soup. It's what I want when I'm not feeling well. It settles the stomach and it's just a really nice comfort thing. Plus it's associated with all kinds of memories growing up when my Mom would make it for me and/or the family. One instance in particular stands out...when I got my wisdom teeth out and couldn't really eat much and my stomach felt all gross after the 'surgery.' (Does it count as a surgery if they put you out for it?) My mom made a pot of this when we got home and kept it on the stove for me for whenever I felt like I could keep something down. *Sigh* reminiscing...

But for the longest time I really had no idea how on earth to make it. I did try on a couple of occasions, but it always ended up a pretty ridiculously goopy mess usually with a thick layer of it stuck to the bottom of the pan. Definitely not what you want and nothing quite like what I remembered from when my mom made it. It wasn't until I tried doing the ratios from this blog that I got consistent results that actually tasted great.

So this is a basic variation of Appetite for China's vegetarian variation (she also has a chicken one) that originally came from the New York Times. I call it a starter because from this point you could add pretty much anything to personalize it to your taste. I usually add stripped up pieces of ham or something, though you could add pretty much any meat and anything else you might like to throw in there. I don't make as large of a batch as she does, mainly because we wouldn't be able to eat that much (serves 6-8 people) and I don't currently have a pot anywhere near large enough to make a batch that large. Now if only I could find the dried crumbled fish that my mom also used to have...think bacon bits, but with fish...sounds weird but it's fantastic on this!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup rice, uncooked
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3-4 cups water
• 1 Tbsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Dash of white pepper
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• Green onion for garnish

PREPARATION:

1. Combine rice, stock, and water, bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer for an hour and a half stirring on occasion and adding more water as necessary to keep essentially same ratio as when you started.
3. Add all remaining ingredients, except garnish, at some point during the simmering process depending on how strong you want the other flavors incorporated. I sometimes add it in right after reducing the heat to simmer. Sometimes not until later, in kind of just depends on whenever I get everything else all ready to go.
4. When consistency of rice is as desired (sometimes you want the rice a little more formed and sometimes I like completely broken down-I guess this makes more sense if you're familiar with jook and you've made it before...) serve hot, throw green onions on top and enjoy!

Brazilian Cheese Rolls

Ok, so this is officially my new favorite recipe. So I'd have to say one of my favorite foods is cheese, I LOVE it. Melted cheese in particular. So we end up eating pizza quite a bit around here, but sometimes it's a hassle either going out to get it or finding room to store it in our fridge/freezer. This recipe is perfect for cheesy cravings! I've been wanting to try it ever since I found it and even bought all the ingredients for it. But I didn't have a mini-muffin tin. So everything's been waiting patiently in the fridge for me to get one. We finally got one and made 2 batches in 2 days and I pretty much downed the 2nd batch all on my own. Yikes, right?

If you've ever been to a Tucanos (Brazilian style)  restaurant I'm pretty sure you've had them. They're the little cheesy bites they have over by the fried banana. Last time we went I was totally considering finding out how much it would be to get a side of them to take home. Anyways, this recipe is super super quick and easy to make. Original recipe is here. And I guess depending on your pan and oven you'll have different baking times. I found that for us to get the look she had on hers we baked at 375 for about 11 minutes. Our muffin pan is shallower than hers and I think a little darker. And I think our oven may run about 25 degrees hotter, so it's kind of a trial and error type thing. Seriously though, even when we overcooked our first batch it was still delicious! The only thing different was texture wasn't quite as chewy as our next batch. Anyways, here it is! Oh, and the only harder ingredient to find is the tapioca flour, which we got at our Winco over in the bulk foods from a bin. Over on the original Our Best Bites blog she goes into a little more detail about maybe where to find some. And sorry, once again no pictures, we finished them too quickly, ha! Would definitely recommend heading over there and looking at the pictures for it just to get an idea of what your final product should look like...

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 cup tapioca flour (sometimes labeled tapioca starch)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup *fine* grated cheddar cheese (preferably medium or sharp - we did this with sharp cheese and you can use a little more if you want. Also on the original recipe she says you can try different types of cheeses instead of the cheddar here)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (I would say not to use the powdered kind, we got a small container of the parmesan shards, for some reason I couldn't find the whole stuff, but definitely if you can get the stuff you can grate fresh)
• OPTIONAL: Extra cheese to sprinkle on top and or any extra herbs or flavorings you'd like to add. On our 2nd run we added about an 1/8 of a tsp. of garlic powder while blending and it was quite good. Blog recommends rosemary, which it turned out we didn't have, so haven't tired it that way yet....  

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Blend all ingredients minus cheese in blender until smooth
3. Add cheeses and pulse a couple of times
4. Immediately pour batter into mini muffin tins (spray pan if it isn't non-stick) filling each cup 3/4 of the way full. Can make anywhere between 16-24 rolls. (We made 24 each time, but once again that could be because our muffin pan is a little wider and shallower...she got 16-18 on hers. Also, pouring takes some practice, on the first try we had to go back with a spoon to even out how much was in each cup). 
5. Sprinkle any additional toppings, such as more cheese on top
6. Bake for 11-15 minutes until puffed and golden. Cool for a few minutes and serve warm!