Turkish Mushroom Cookies

We are already prepping new recipes for our next big cookie giveaway next Christmas. Christmas 2013 was very successful with many new and interesting cookies and candies. It’s always a challenge to top the previous year, but we do love a challenge! This cookie, a traditional Turkish holiday recipe, was good, but the flavor was a little too subtle for my tasting crew. I’m going to work with the recipe and tweak it a bit before it can make the cut for Christmas 2014. They were very fun and interesting to make and my daughter had a lot of fun poking the cookie balls with a Coke bottle. Don’t understand that? Read the recipe!

Turkish Mushroom Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups cornstarch
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp cocoa powder
½ cup water
INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cream the room temperature unsalted butter with the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Make sure they are well combined with the sugar evenly distributed.
Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix to combine.
Slowly add the cornstarch, kneading it in with your hands. A soft dough will start to form.
Sift together the all-purpose flour and baking powder in a small bowl.
Gradually add the flour mixture, again kneading to combine with the dough with your hands.
Roll the dough into chestnut-sized balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
In two small bowls, prepare your cocoa powder and water. Dip the mouth of your small-mouthed bottle in the water first, and then in the cocoa powder. Powder should lightly coat the mouth of the bottle.
Press the mouth of the bottle lightly into the top of each cookie to create the stem.

Bake at 375F for 25 minutes.

Caramel Banana Tart

I think I must have been born a monkey in a previous life, or perhaps Darwin was closer to the truth on my ancestry. I love bananas. And baked bananas, oh my, is there anything quite so decadent tasting without being chocolate?

I found the original recipe for this in an old magazine in the freebie bin at McKay’s. The picture was so beautifully mouth watering that we had to stop and get the ingredients on the way home from Chattanooga. We baked the tart up that very evening. I gotta tell you, I was disappointed. It looked lovely, but it was lifeless and dull. I wanted the tart I had imagined tasting when I drooled over the magazine. So, off to tweak it I went. This recipe is the result. I am happy with it. If you make it and/or tweak your own version, let me know what you think!

 

Carmel Banana Tart

3 tablespoon butter, melted

2/3 cup brown sugar dash of cinnamon

1/3 cup pecan halves

3 bananas, peeled and sliced

dash of fresh squeezed lemon juice (about a teaspoon)

1 thawed (30 minutes at room temp) puff pastry sheet (1/2 of a 17 oz box)

Preheat oven to 400 F. Melt butter in a 11×7 glass pan. Sprinkle brown sugar over melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon, top with pecans, top with sliced banana, and sprinkle with lemon juice. Carefully unfold puff pastry and place on top of banana slices. Push gently from center, if needed, to cover. Push extra down around edges of pan. Bake at 400F for about 30-35 minutes until top is a golden brown. Allow to set a couple of minutes. Carefully loosen tart around edges and flip onto a serving platter. Serve warm. It would be good with a little vanilla ice cream if you wanted to go over the top.

Dino’s Hot Sweet Pickles

 

 

I adapted my altered cold packed sweet pickle recipe (https://lisamays.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/sweet-pickles-revamped-a-more-user-friendly-recipe/) for my nephew who fell in love with Wickles. They are a deliciously hot sweet pickle made just south of here in Alabama. After a bit of tinkering to get the heat where he liked it, we settled on this recipe. These hot pickles have been a great hit with everyone who has tried them. Don’t let all the steps scare you. It’s a fairly easy recipe and very much worth the effort. Please read the entire recipe through before beginning.

Recipe~

WARNING: Ghost peppers are the hottest peppers known the mankind with a scoville rating of around 1 million. It’s 400 times hotter than tabasco sauce. Treating ghost peppers lightly can result in injury. Wear gloves and do not get pepper or its juice anywhere near your face. Treat it like it’s radioactive. Treat it like it’s a scorpion. Treat it like it’s a radioactive scorpion. Be safe.

We have worked this recipe every time in an 5 gallon butter churn crock. It’s size is ideal.

1/2 bushel fresh pickling cucumbers (approximately 4 inches long), cut into 1/4-inch slices

Water

3 cups pickling salt

1- 1.9 oz container alum

2 gallons cider vinegar

1- 1.5 oz container pickling spices

2 fresh heads of dill seeds

6 jalapenos, split lengthwise

25 cayenne peppers, split lengthwise

1 ghost pepper, split lenthwise and placed in cheesecloth wrap

2 heads garlic, sliced

15-20 lb. sugar

DAY 1:

Place sliced cucumbers in a large non-reactive container (stainless steel or porcelain) and cover with boiling water. There will be a foam on the cucumbers for this first application of boiling water, but you will not have any foam after that.

Let cool then cover lightly with a towel. Do not put it on while the pickles are still hot or warm. This will cook the pickles and we don’t want that. Replace towel after each day.

Let sit until Day 2.

The cucumbers do not have to be refrigerated during the process. You want the ingredients to be at room temperature and the liquid you pour over them to be at the boiling point when you are processing.

DAY 2:

Drain off water (do not rinse the pickles) and cover with fresh boiling water and pickling salt mixture.

(Pickling salt mixture = 1 1/2 cups pickling salt to 1 gallon boiling water).

DAY 3:

Drain off water/salt mixture.

Do not rinse the pickles after the salt step. Just drain the water mixture off and proceed to the next step.

Cover with fresh boiling water and alum mixture.

(Alum mixture = 2 1/2 tablespoons alum to 1 gallon boiling water).

DAY 4:

Drain off alum water and discard.

Do not rinse the pickles after the alum step. Just drain the water mixture off and proceed to the next step.

Boil together enough cider vinegar to cover the cucumber slices. Add jalapenos, cayennes, dill, garlic and ghost pepper to crock.

(1 gallon cider vinegar and 3 tablespoons pickling spices wrapped in cheese cloth or loose spices).

Pour prepared cider vinegar/pickling spices over the cucumber slices.

DAY 5, 6 and 7:

Let the cucumbers sit in the vinegar solution, covering the top with the towel to keep them clean. Stir once each day.

DAY 8:

NOTE: At this point, I usually pull out and throw away all of the hot peppers before sugaring the pickle slices, but they can be left in during this step then pulled out before canning. Leaving them in longer will add more heat, but I would strongly recommend pulling the ghost pepper before sugaring.

Take cucumbers out of cider vinegar; drain off cider vinegar and throw away spice bag if you used one. I like the spices in my pickles. Some folks don’t. Drain pickles throughly. Remove all of the jalapenos, cayennes, and the ghost pepper and discard them. Coat pickles well with sugar. I am bit picky and pour my pickles into large bowls and stir them well, coating each pickle before returning it to the crock, but if your crock is large enough, pour the sugar directly onto the drained pickles a little at a time and stir well, making sure to coat them all. After refilling the crock( if you removed the pickles) pour enough sugar to cover the top of the pickles entirely. The sugar will pull the vinegar/spice solution out of the pickles and make the syrup.

DAY 9-12~

Take a break. Sit a spell. Put your feet up and let the sugar do all the work. Just stir once each day, adding sugar to cover pickles if needed. I have left the pickles in the crock for as long as 5 days before canning them. At this stage they are finished and a day or so longer doesn’t really matter.

Last Day~

Prepare sterlized pint jars, add pickles (I also decorate my jars with fresh red, yellow, and green cayenne peppers), pour syrup over pickles to cover. Seal with cap and rings. The jars will be preserved, but not sealed. Store in a cool, dry place. They are best if they sit for a couple weeks before eating, but they can be eaten immediately. These pickles will last a very long time preserved this way, but ours never seem to make it long before they disappear. If you decorated your jars with colorful cayennes don’t be surprised when the colors fade over time. These pickles are best served chilled.

Mongolian Pork, the Easy Way

Like a lot of people, my family tends to suffer from the mid-Winter blahs. Here is East Tennessee we tend to not get much in the way of snow, so winter is one long, dreary, gray season. Even our most loved recipes tend to be boring and dull this time of year. So, we’re trying to add a few new recipes to our ‘most loved’ stapes. This recipe is a keeper.

We made up two batches of Mongolian inspired dishes, one from a packet mix and the other from scratch. The packet Mongolian is on the left and it is beef. The one on the right is the homemade Mongolian pork. My family overwhelmingly preferred the homemade dish. Next time I am going to add a few veggies and some extra green onions in the last half hour of cooking.

Mongolian Pork

Ingredients

2 to 3 pounds pork steak or chops, thinly cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 onions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
2 bunches green onions, sliced diagonally into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
3/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 teaspoon fresh gound pepper

Directions

Place flank steak and cornstarch into a resealable plastic bag. Shake the bag to evenly coat the flank steak with the cornstarch. Allow to steak rest for 10 minutes.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir steak until evenly browned, 4-5 minutes. Place browned meat and everything else in a slow cooker set on low setting. Cook for about 4 hours.

Sweet Pickles ReVamped~ A more user friendly recipe

After using the altered cold packed sweet pickle recipe for over a year now with great success, I decided to repost it with my own changes, so as to make it easier to follow. These pickles have been a great hit with everyone who has tried them. Although there are several steps, it’s a fairly easy recipe and very much worth the effort.

Recipe~

We have worked this recipe every time in an 8 gallon butter churn crock. It’s size is ideal.

1/2 bushel fresh pickling cucumbers (approximately 4 inches long), cut into 1/4-inch slices

Water

3 cups pickling salt

1- 1.9 oz container alum

2 gallons cider vinegar

1- 1.5 oz container pickling spices

2 fresh heads of dill seeds

20 lb. sugar

DAY 1:

Place sliced cucumbers in a large non-reactive container (stainless steel or porcelain) and cover with boiling water. There will be a foam on the cucumbers for this first application of boiling water, but you will not have any foam after that.

Let cool then cover lightly with a towel. Do not put it on while the pickles are still hot or warm. This will cook the pickles and we don’t want that.

Let sit until Day 2.

The cucumbers do not have to be refrigerated during the process. You want the ingredients to be at room temperature and the liquid you pour over them to be at the boiling point when you are processing.

DAY 2:

Drain off water (do not rinse the pickles) and cover with fresh boiling water and pickling salt mixture.

(Pickling salt mixture = 1 1/2 cups pickling salt to 1 gallon boiling water).

DAY 3:

Drain off water/salt mixture.

Do not rinse the pickles after the salt step. Just drain the water mixture off and proceed to the next step.

Cover with fresh boiling water and alum mixture. 

(Alum mixture = 2 1/2 tablespoons alum to 1 gallon boiling water).

DAY 4:

Drain off alum water and discard.

Do not rinse the pickles after the alum step. Just drain the water mixture off and proceed to the next step.

Boil together enough cider vinegar and pickling spices to cover the cucumber slices.

 (1 gallon cider vinegar and 3 tablespoons pickling spices wrapped in cheese cloth or loose spices).

Pour prepared cider vinegar/pickling spices over the cucumber slices.

Recover top with a towel.

DAY 5, 6 and 7:

Let the cucumbers sit in the vinegar solution, covering the top with the towel to keep them clean. Stir once each day.

DAY 8:

Take cucumbers out of cider vinegar; drain off cider vinegar and throw away spice bag if you used one. I like the spices in my pickles. Some folks don’t. Drain pickles throughly. Coat pickles well with sugar. I am bit picky and pour my pickles into large bowls and stir them well, coating each pickle before returning it to the crock, but if your crock is large enough, pour the sugar directly onto the drained pickles a little at a time and stir well, making sure to coat them all. After refilling the crock( if you removed the pickles) pour enough sugar to cover the top of the pickles entirely. The sugar will pull the vinegar/spice solution out of the pickles and make the syrup.

DAY 9-12~ Stir once each day, adding sugar to cover pickles if needed.

Last Day~ Prepare sterlized pint jars, add pickles, pour syrup over pickles to cover. Seal with cap and rings. The jars will be preserved, but not sealed. Store in a cool, dry place. They are best if they sit for a couple weeks before eating, but they can be eaten immediately. These pickles will last a very long time preserved this way, but ours never seem to make it long before they disappear. They are best served chilled.

Honeysuckle Jelly

Ah, the sweet, heady scents of Spring! Travel the Tennessee back roads this time of year with the windows down and you’ll be struck with one flowery scent in particular- the heavenly whiff of honeysuckle blossoms. They grace fence rows and tree stumps, climb trees and garden arbors. And they’re not just for show and smell. This much beloved little wild flower makes a delicious little jelly, too!

My hubby had asked me to find someone who sold kudzu jelly because he wanted to get a jar for a friend.  While hunting around online, I found a retailer that offered honeysuckle. Having always wanted to try flower jelly, I decided I would tackle it, with the help of my family. After all, picking and de-stemming a gallon of the tiny little flowers is not a feat one person should undertake!

Luckily, I knew just where to find them! They’re all over my sister Sue’s land. We picked a gallon of flowers and tried to keep them mainly the very ripe ones, bright yellow and fragrant. We trimmed the green ends and tossed any that were dry or browning around the edges. Next we poured a gallon of boiling water over the bowl of blossoms and stirred. We covered the bowl with plastic wrap and sat it in the fridge. It sat and steeped for nearly 4 days. Then we made jelly.

There are a lot of recipes for flower jellies online. And several for honeysuckle blossom jelly. They conflict greatly in the measurements and in the way of preparation. I did my own thing, as I usually do. Keep in mind I have been making jellies since I was tall enough to reach the stove to help my mama. I also have a big ole bunch of ribbons from when I used to put them in the local county fair. So, I wasn’t just taking a wild guess here. I had an idea how it would work.

Honeysuckle Blossom Jelly~

4 cups honeysuckle blossoms

4 cups boiling water

1 box pectin

2 generous teaspoons lemon juice

5 cups sugar

Start with equal measurements of blossoms and boiling water. You’ll need at least 4 cups of lightly compressed flowers for a batch. Pour boiling water over flowers and allow to steep at least overnight. Keep the mixture in the ‘fridge and use it within one week. Drain the liquid from the flowers using a coffee filter. It will look greenish and yucky to start. Don’t worry, it will turn out pretty. Measure liquid needed, add to large pot with boxed pectin and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, then add sugar. Bring to a boil again, boil for a minute and a half to 2 minutes. Remove any skim on top. Ladle immediately into hot, sanitized jars. Add caps and rings. Process in boiling water bath for 5 minutes, if desired.

The color was even better than I had hoped (after reading that some people got green tinted jelly from their recipes). The color is natural, no food coloring added. It looks and tastes like Spring sunshine! I have to say I enjoyed the prep process as much as I’ll enjoy the jelly. The smells in every step of the way was delightful!

Meringue Mushrooms~ A Guide

We make up batches of meringue mushrooms to give away at Christmas time every year. We save the baskets from mushrooms we used earlier in the year to add even more realism. These are yummy, and a light, low sugar/low calorie treat. Everyone loves them, even the mushroom haters ;).

Ingredients:

* 4 egg whites
* 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
* 4 ounces chocolate confectioners’ coating

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large glass or metal bowl (plastic bowls tend to be easier for grease to adhere to can keep the egg whites from becoming meringue), use an electric mixer to whip egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla. Continue whipping until the whites hold soft peaks. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar and continue whipping until the mixture holds stiff shiny peaks.

3. Place a round tip into a pastry bag, and fill the bag half way with the meringue. To pipe the mushroom caps, squeeze out round mounds of meringue onto one of the prepared cookie sheets. For the stems, press out a tiny bit of meringue onto the other sheet, then pull the bag straight out horizonally. Dust the mushroom caps and stems lightly with cocoa using a small sifter or strainer( you can also do this after baking).

4. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the caps are dry enough to easily remove from the cookie sheets. Set aside to cool completely. Melt the coating chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth.

5. Poke a small hole in the bottom of a mushroom cap. Spread chocolate over the bottom of the cap. Dip the tip of a stem in chocolate, and press lightly into the hole. When the chocolate sets, they will hold together. Repeat with remaining pieces. If you want uber realism, you can score the bottoms of the caps while the chocolate is still soft with a toothpick to resemble gills. Store at room temperature in a dry place. Pick a nice dry day to make these or they can be sticky and difficult to handle.

Enjoy!

 

Blueberry Cheesecake Fudge

Yes, I know the baking and candy making season is over for a lot of people, but I am just getting caught up on my recipe pictures and wanted to share this sublime recipe with everyone. I have yet to find someone who didn’t like this fudge and several people have fallen in lust with this rich, creamy, buttery confection. One word of advice- save yourself a lot of trouble and buy dried blueberries. Drying them yourself is messy and you sometimes wind up with blue striped fudge. Trust me, that ain’t pretty.
BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE FUDGE RECIPE

© 1997 T. P. Skaarup, original recipe. May be copied unaltered. All
rights reserved.

1/4 cup butter or margarine (1/2 stick)
2 1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk (or small 5 ounce can)
10-12 ounces vanilla chips
2-3 ounces neufchatel cheese or cream cheese
5 ounces Marshmallow Creme (more than half but not all
the jar)
1 1/2 cups dried blue berries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butter flavor (imitation)
Directions:
Previously set aside 1-2 cups of blueberries washed in lemon
juice. Make a small cut or hole in each berry and let dry on waxed
paper for 1 day (until roughly the consistency of fresh raisins). The
drying is important since fresh fruits (which contain lots of water)
can ruin a fudge.

Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil and set aside. Let the
cream cheese come to room temperature.

Heat milk at medium setting until warm then add sugar. Bring to a
rolling boil (medium-high) while stirring constantly with a wooden
spoon. Add the Marshmallow Creme and butter. Bring back to a
rolling boil for 5 1/2 minutes by the clock (start timing once the
rolling boil resumes). Add the cream cheese to the boiling mixture
about 1 minute before the end of the boil. Cut into small sections to
allow easy melting.

If you get brown flakes in the mixture then turn down the heat a little.
Remove from heat and add vanilla chips and blueberries. Stir until
creamy and all chips are melted. Now stir in vanilla extract and
butter flavor. Mix thoroughly and pour into prepared pan. Cool.
Remove from pan, remove foil, cut into squares.

Stand back!!!!!!!!

Variation: use dried cherries or apricots

 

Healthier Cheesecake

 

Healthy Cheesecake? Is that a misnomer? Perhaps, but if you need to watch your sugar intake or you are on a low carb diet, this is the cheesecake for you! I have served this countless times and even the non-dieting folk eat it and love it! A dollop of all fruit jelly spread or real fruit on top compliments and fancies it up a bit! Try it!

Sugar Free Low Carb Cheesecake

Ingredients:

3  8 ounce packages of Philly Cream Cheese
1 cup Splenda (or slightly less. I have used 3/4 cup and it work just fine)
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
3 whole eggs
1 cup sour cream
small amount of lemon zest(optional)

How To Prepare:     Preheat Oven To 375 Degrees F

1. Soften cream cheese in a large bowl.
2. With an electric mixer, blend cream cheese until creamy and of an even consistency.
3. Add sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and sour cream and blend until incorporated.
4. Add eggs ONE at a time and blend after each until incorporated into batter.
5. Spray a 9 or 10 inch glass pie pan with Pam to prevent sticking or use a springform pan.
6.Add Batter to pan.
7. Place first pan in a larger pan filled with water. This prevents the cheesecake from cracking and keeps it moist inside.If you use a springform, wrap bottom of pan in aluminum foil.
8. Place both pans in oven for 45 minutes or until somewhat firm in the center.
9. Allow to cool and then chill. Keep leftovers in fridge, if there are any!

 

 

 

Southern Rum Fruitcake

This is a new recipe I tried this year. I modified it to suit my family and added a few things and subtracted a couple of others. I don’t like little bits of unidentifiable colored fruit peels, so all the ingredients are more natural, with the exception of the brightly colored red and green candied cherries. After all, what would fruitcake be without them?

Southern Rum Fruit Cake

1 pound of candied red cherries
8 ox candied green cherries
1 pound of candied pineapple
1 pound of pecans, shelled
1 pound of almonds, shelled
1 pound of walnuts, shelled
1 pound of pitted dates
4 pounds of seedless raisins
1 pound chopped dried apricots
1 pound chopped dried mango
orange and lemon rind, grated, to taste
flour, to dredge
1 pound of butter
1 pound of sugar
1 dozen eggs, beaten
1 pound of flour
8 ounces of jelly (we used scubbernong grape)
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of allspice
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 cup rum ( we used a decent fruity variety)

Instructions:

Halve cherries; slice pineapple thin. Add broken or halved nuts. Mix all fruit and nuts. Dredge well with flour. Cream butter and sugar; add eggs. Add flour and jelly, then spices mixed in wine. With hands, mix thin batter into floured fruit and nuts. Put in cake pans; bake at least 1 hour in moderate oven (350ºF.) Cakes are done when inserted cake tester or wire comes out clean. Pour wine over hot cakes; cool and wrap. Makes 15 pounds.

Note: We wrap our fruitcakes in rum moistened cheesecloth and allow them to age in a sealed container for at least a month before gifting them. This recipe makes a lot, which is a good thing since we have to test them during the aging process…. a lot ;).